A busy week for space enthusiasts

A one of a kind spectacle Sunday night had a lot of people outside with cameras and camera phones.

It was a perfectly clear night in Colorado to watch the lunar eclipse and super blood moon.

Pictures flooded social media around the world.

If you were anywhere near a computer last night, you couldn’t avoid it.

Nadia Herrera said, “I was really amazed because it’s the only time I’ve seen the Moon and it was red.”

The super moon eclipse came and social media reacted in the usual way. Some people were disappointed.

Some people posted photos – when they could get them to come out.

“We tried…and it wouldn’t show up,” said Herrera.

The Moon stole the spotlight, eclipsing what was discovered on Mars.

Elias Molen of the Space Foundation said, “not too many of (the kids) knew what was going on with Mars today.”

It may not have been as high profile, but the announcement that water sometimes flows on Mars was another big event.

Big astronomical events like Sunday night’s lunar eclipse or the kind of things that scientists have discovered on the surface of Mars have helped to captivate not only this generation of explorers but the next generation as well.

The golden era of space exploration may be over, but the kids who come to the Space Foundation today could make more discoveries in the future.

Herrera said, “they would be like ‘hey look, there’s finally people on Mars’ and then they might want to take a job there.”

There are already plans to go to Mars and to return to the Moon.

The buzz created this week could help convince future explorers to take that giant leap.

Molen said, “We hope that it builds a little bit of interest for a little while into what’s going on in space.”

If today’s kids take up exploring then the sky may not be the limit in the future.