The full moon in March will appear orange-red in the early morning sky as a result of a total lunar eclipse, and North Americans are positioned perfectly to see it.
Sometimes called a Blood Moon in the media for the coloration, it should probably be called a coral or a jasper moon, because it doesn’t look like any blood you’ve ever seen.
In any case, at 2:59 a.m. EDT (6:59 GMT) on March 14th, the Moon will pass into the deepest part of Earth’s shadow, known in eclipse lingo as the umbra and the moment of totality. The Sun, Earth, and Moon will be in perfect alignment, with the shadow from the light of the former falling over the latter.
32 minutes either side of totality, the Moon will still be in Earth’s shadow, and still appear orange-red, but the deepest red coloration won’t be seen. In total you get just over an hour of moon viewing time.
The reason the Moon turns orange red has to do with how the light from the Sun breaches the atmosphere. Sunlight contains a full color spectrum, and different wavelengths possess not only different colors, but different properties. Blue light scatters easily, NASA writes, when it comes in contact with the atmosphere, which is why the sky appears blue during the daytime.
As the Earth passes between the Sun and Moon, red light from our star, which moves at a more direct and lower velocity, penetrates Earth’s atmosphere at a shallow angle and is cast on the Moon in red.
Space.com shared a variety of links to watch parties and livestreams that will be tracking the lunar eclipse as it grows and wanes. Some will have visiting astronomers to answer viewers’ questions about lunar eclipses.
These include the Adler Planetarium in Illinois, and the Griffith Observatory in California.
Some South American time zones may also be able to watch, but at the longitude of Rio de Janeiro, dawn will be well underway.
WATCH a graphic on how and when it will happen…
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