7:15 AM - *Total lunar eclipse will be visible the night of Thursday, March 13 into the early morning hours of Friday, March 14*
Paul Dorian
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). This diagram shows the various stages (and times) of the lunar eclipse as the moon moves from right to left, passing through the penumbra and umbra. Courtesy NASA/GSFC
Overview
A “blood moon” total lunar eclipse will be visible across the U.S. from the night of Thursday, March 13th into the early morning hours of Friday, March 14th. This phenomenon occurs when the entire moon falls within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow in a color-shifting process that causes the lunar surface to appear red-orange; hence, the nickname “blood moon”. This kind of celestial event hasn’t happened since November 2022 and won’t happen again until March of 2026. It will be visible to the naked eye, but binoculars or a telescope can certainly add to the overall enjoyment of viewing the lunar eclipse.
Earth casts an inner shadow, the umbra, where the planet's bulk completely blocks the Sun except for a small fraction refracted by the atmosphere into the shadow. Within the outer shadow or penumbra, Earth partially blocks the Sun, so varying amounts of sunlight filter into and dilute the shadow (not to scale). Courtesy NASA with additions by Bob King
Details
A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, moon, and Earth align so that the moon moves into the shadow of the Earth. For a total lunar eclipse to occur, the moon passes into the darkest part of our planet’s shadow, known as the umbra. This causes the moon to appear red-orange, which is where the nickname “blood moon” comes from. This has to do with the Earth’s inability to block all the sunlight, so whatever gets through gives it a unique hue across the lunar surface.
This map shows where the March 13-14 eclipse will be visible. Contours mark the edge of the visibility region where a particular eclipse phase occurs. Times are Universal Time (UT). Courtesy NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
The process that produces the red or orangish glow is the same that makes our sky blue and our sunsets red. As sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere, it is refracted toward the surface. Because blue light has a shorter wavelength and scatters relatively easily, that's why our sky appears in that color most of the time. Reddish light, which travels more directly in the air, manifests to ground observers during sunrises and sunsets when the sun is near the horizon and its incoming light travels at a longer, low-angle path through Earth's atmosphere.
For U.S. residents, here's a schedule of the eclipse from start to finish, according to NASA:
11:57 p.m. EST: you can see the eclipse starting when the penumbral phase begins as the moon enters the outer part of the shadow and begins to subtly dim.
1:09 a.m.: A partial eclipse begins as the moon enters Earth's umbra and starts to darken. To the naked eye, the moon should look like a bite is being taken out of the lunar disk.
2:26 a.m.: Totality occurs when the entire moon is under the umbra. This is when the reddish hues of the "blood moon" will be on display.
3:31 a.m.: As the moon exits the umbra, the red color will fade and another bite-like display, this time on the other side of the moon, will appear.
6 a.m.: The entire process should end by this time as the moon slowly exits the Earth's penumbra.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
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