You didn't need to buy tickets or go anywhere to see the Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse on Jan. 20. But more than a hundred people gathered in a dark, snowy field at South Platte Park's Carson Nature Center in Littleton to share the experience of one of the finest lunar eclipses in many years.

“There's something earthy and grounding about seeing this eclipse, and seeing it together,” said Lucy Demuth as she warmed her hands by a fire. “They say Stonehenge was an astronomical observatory. I think mankind has been trying to figure out our place in the heavens for a long time.”

There was more to the name than just marketing, said South Platte Park interpreter Caroline Davis: “Super” means the moon was at its closest approach to earth. “Blood” refers to the color the moon turns during the eclipse. And “Wolf” is an ancient term for the January full moon, which coincides with the time of year wolves roam the woods, howling for a mate.

Watching a lunar eclipse, in which the Earth's shadow covers the face of the full moon, transcends all the bunk of modern life, said South Platte Park interpreter Victoria Sutton.

“Holidays are commercialized,” Sutton said. “This is honest. It's a wonderful phenomenon. There's a mystery to it.”