Good news for stargazers: you’ll be able to view another lunar eclipse this Sunday night in the QCA.

Starting around 9:27 PM, the moon’s lower left face will start to darken as the Earth’s shadow moves over it. By 10:30, the whole moon will be shadowed, darkened, and colored red.

At our location, the maximum eclipse comes at 11:11. This is when the moon is closest to the center of Earth’s shadow.

If you’re still up at 11:53, you’ll see the moon start to reemerge & brighten. The last sliver of shadow will disappear around 12:55 AM, leaving the moon fully visible once again.

Why the red color?

The moon’s bloody look during a lunar eclipse comes from “refraction”, or bending of light.

This refraction happens in the Earth’s atmosphere, where sunlight is scattered and bent as it moves through.

Wavelengths like blue are scattered, coloring our sky. Wavelengths like red get refracted, traveling around the Earth and lighting up the moon.

This is the same process that makes sunrises and sunsets reddish on Earth.