A blood moon will soon be gracing (clear) skies near you! Are you ready?

What is a blood moon? It's another name for a total lunar eclipse, a phenomena that occurs when a full moon passes directly through a planet's shadow, changing the bright white reflection to a much darker shade of red. This time the dark red shade, known as totality, will last about an hour, while the shadow of the Moon will gradually increases and decrease for about 90 minutes before and after totality occurs. This means the entire event will last about 4 hours.

This eclipse is known as a "total" lunar eclipse, named for when the entirety of the Moon gets covered by Earth's hard shadow, known as the umbra. It's different from a solar eclipse in that the Earth is between the Moon and Sun, as opposed to a solar eclipse when the Moon is between the Earth and Sun.

Unfortunately for folks on the east coast, the amount of time to see totality will be cut short, lasting only about 20-30 minutes (depending on your longitude) as the moon sets. Full eclipse times are in the image at the top of the page.

For folks in Central, Mountain, or Pacific time, all of totality should be visible before the moon foes down. Some of the partial eclipse after totality may be cut short.

Pacific times for the eclipse are in the image below!

Be sure to catch this total lunar eclipse, as the next total lunar eclipse isn't until New Year's Eve of 2028!

Forecast

As always with astronomical events, cloud cover can make or break your visibility for the event. It's a bit early to know for sure, but it does look like a good portion of the South, Midwest, and Southeast will have a fair amount of clouds. Be sure to check back in on this forecast as it will likely change considerably!

Temperatures will be on the chilly side for many, with 30s for much of the country.