Lunar eclipse today: where to watch the celestial event happen for the last time in years – live

Tuesday’s event will coincide with “beaver moon,” a nickname for November’s full moon adopted by the Old Farmer’s Almanac purportedly from the Algonquian languages ​​once spoken by Native Americans in the New England Territory. When combined with the phenomena of a total lunar eclipse, it is widely known in the United States as a “beaver blood moon.”

The full eclipse will unfold over a period of nearly six hours as the moon gradually approaches Earth’s paler outer shadow, its “penumbra,” then enters Earth’s darker inner shadow, or “umbra.” “, before reaching totality and eventually emerging. from the other side.

On the west coast of the United States, the full display will run from 1:01 a.m. PST until just before 6:00 a.m., with the total eclipse phase lasting approximately 90 minutes and peaking at 3:00 p.m. 00 a.m.

Tuesday’s eclipse will be visible in East Asia, Australia, the Pacific and North America. Sky watchers in Asia and Australia will see it with their evening moonrise, while the show will unfold for sky watchers in North America in the early morning hours before moonset. It will be visible to the naked eye as long as the sky is clear in those regions.

Total lunar eclipses occur, on average, once every year and a half, according to NASA. But the interval varies. Tuesday’s event will mark the second blood moon this year, after the one in mid-May. The next one is not expected until March 14, 2025.

The reddish appearance of the lunar surface (the moon does not completely disappear from view) is caused by rays of sunlight around the outer edge of the eclipse shadow, or umbra, filtering and refracting as it passes through the atmosphere. from Earth, indirectly bathing the moon. in a faint coppery glow.

The degree of redness depends on atmospheric conditions that vary with levels of air pollution, dust storms, wildfire smoke, and even volcanic ash.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth casts its shadow entirely on a full moon, blocking the reflection of all direct sunlight from the lunar orb and darkening the moon’s color to a reddish hue, hence the term “blood moon.” .

This is only possible when the orbits of the Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned so that the Moon is directly behind the Earth relative to the Sun. Otherwise, the Moon passes above or below the shadow. from Earth because its orbit around Earth is usually tilted relative to Earth’s orbit around the sun.

… a the independentLive coverage of the last total lunar eclipse until 2025.