Look up at the sky Thursday evening into Friday morning for a chance to glimpse the moon turn a red-coppery color —sometimes called a “Blood Moon” — during a total lunar eclipse.
The celestial show occurs “when the sun, Earth, and moon align so that the moon passes into Earth’s shadow,” according to NASA.
“It first appears to have a bite taken out of one side, but as maximum eclipse nears, the moon transforms into a deep crimson orb,” the space agency states. “That red color comes from the ring of all the sunsets and sunrises you’d see encircling our planet if you were an astronaut on the lunar surface right then. Afterward, the eclipse plays out in reverse, with the red color fading, and the dark bite shrinking, until the Moon looks like its usual self again.”
Local viewing will, of course, depend on whether Humboldt County’s weather cooperates, which doesn’t appear to be the case with another storm in the forecast as winter reasserts itself on the North Coast in the last days before spring officially arrives on March 20.
The astronomical event starts at 8:57 p.m. on the West Coast as the moon starts its slide into the sun’s shadow and begins to dim. When the partial eclipse commences at 10:09 p.m., the first “bite” out of the moon will appear, according to NASA, with totality beginning at 11:26 p.m., giving the moon a crimson tone. Totality ends at 12:31 a.m. with the moon appearing “as if a bite is being taken out of the opposite side of the lunar disk,” the space agency says, and the entire eclipse comes to an end at 3 a.m.
Should the clouds part, NASA says, the eclipse will be visible to the naked eye, “although binoculars or a telescope will enhance the view. A dark environment away from bright lights makes for the best viewing conditions.”
The last total lunar eclipse was on Nov. 8, 2022.
This article appears in There’s a Fish Market Splashing into Eureka.