AMATEUR astronomer Chris Issac had a chase on his hands to capture this photo of the total lunar eclipse.

Starting at 3am he drove across Gloucestershire with friend Adge Walters in a quest for the perfect shot, defying the cold, damp and clouds.

He eventually captured it just off junction 13 of the M5 at 6.13am this morning. He was using using an Olympus OMD SLR camera with a 300mm lens and 10.7x magnification.

Chris, of Leonard Stanley, near Stroud, said he chased the moon across the county as it crossed the night sky.

"We started at 3am at Coaley Peak, then were at Rodborough Common at 4.30am, and finished down in the Severn Valley at 6am.

"We had to keep on to avoid the clouds and fog."

An eclipse of the moon happens when the Earth lies directly between the sun and the moon and the moon lies in the shadow of the Earth.

For a total lunar eclipse, sometimes known as a blood moon, all three lie in a straight line, which means the moon passes through the umbra, the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow.