Early birds will be in for a treat tomorrow morning!

This month’s full moon will also be a “Blood Moon”, as it undergoes a lunar eclipse, taking on a reddish hue between 5am and 7am Tuesday morning.

The prenumbral eclipse begins as early as 3:02am Tuesday, but the moon will not appear red until the partial eclipse begins at 4:09am.

Eclipse totality begins at 5:16am and continues through 6:41am Tuesday morning, which means the total lunar eclipse will last approximately 85 minutes. Maximum eclipse totality occurs at 5:59am, which is when the moon will appear the most red.

What is a lunar eclipse?

A lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon moves into the shadow of Earth. It is at this point that the moon, Earth and sun are exactly or closely aligned.

As the moon moves into the Earth’s shadow, the moon’s surface begins to darken and eventually a color shift occurs.

Why is it called a “Blood Moon”?

“Blood Moons” receive their nickname as the moon shifts from the more common white to a reddish hue.

But what is causing this color change?

As the moon moves into Earth’s shadow, the Earth blocks all sunlight from reaching the moon’s surface. The only light that is reaching the moon is light that has traveled through Earth’s atmosphere, which filters out all blue wavelengths and only allows reddish wavelengths to pass through.

As a result, only reddish light is able to travel from Earth to the moon -- which is then reflected back to Earth for us to see.

Share your photos!

If you are a shutter bug with an eye on the sky, we would love to see your photos of the Blood Moon!

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