An incredible photo taken of the full moon after Storm Ciara appears to show an eerie presence glaring down from the sky.
Sarah Hodges, from Bolton, UK, spotted the unusual sight on February 11, shortly after Storm Ciara swept across the UK, unleashing strong winds and torrential rain.
Sarah caught a moment of peace among the chaos at around 9:30pm, when the natural cloud formation parted around the bright full moon, giving the illusion a giant eye was keeping watch over the country.
It’s not the eye of the storm you’d typically expect amid bad weather, but it’s certainly a more literal depiction of the phrase, with the dark sky creating an eyelid, and paler clouds illuminated by the moon forming the gleaming eyeball.
Recalling the moment she spotted the scene, Sarah, who works as a baker, explained:
I took the pictures last Tuesday, February 11, between 9.34pm and 9.39pm just from my bedroom window at my home address. They were taken after Storm Ciara, the weather was calm.
The moon was shining through the kitchen window, so I went upstairs and just kept taking pictures of the moon. I am obsessed with the moon, sunset, sunrise and the sea.
I just used my Samsung S9. I know I got lucky, people spend thousands on cameras to get the perfect shot.
Sarah described herself as being ‘overwhelmed and proud’ after successfully capturing the ‘once in a lifetime’ pictures.
She went on to share the shots on Facebook, where they have since gone viral with more than 2,300 likes and 35,000 shares. Numerous social media users have also commented their praise for the incredible images.
One person wrote:
So freaky, but amazing.
Another responded:
Wow, mother nature. that would make a brilliant picture, 100% brilliant.
The photos were posted in a Facebook group dedicated to Druidry; a religion that believes in the fundamentally spiritual nature of life and aims to ‘commune deeply with the world of Nature’, according to Druidry.org.
Sarah believes she was ‘lucky’ to capture the photos, saying:
It was only when scrolling back through the images that I noticed the moon centered around the clouds because in real-time the clouds were constantly moving.
I took the pictures manually without any shutter settings, so I was incredibly lucky to get the shot.
The ‘eye’ is certainly an impressive sight!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.