10-03-2025
When to watch ‘blood moon' lunar eclipse this week
A blood moon will appear huge above the morning horizon this Friday as the lunar surface is shadowed by the Earth in a rare lunar eclipse.
People living in the west of Britain will see a total eclipse of the Moon, which will begin at around 4am on March 14, while the rest of the country will see it about 90 per cent obscured.
The Moon appears blood red or orange during a lunar eclipse because a small amount of light from the Sun still hits the surface after passing through Earth's atmosphere.
While blue light is scattered by dust in the Earth's atmosphere, red light passes through relatively unhindered, giving the Moon an rosy glow.
Caela Barry, of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at Nasa, said: 'It's as if all the world's sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.'
The Moon will be fully covered for about 66 minutes and it will take approximately six hours to move through all of the Earth's shadow. The best time to view this in Britain is around 5am, before the sky becomes too bright.
Professor Don Pollacco, of the University of Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics Group, said the phenomenon would look particularly impressive because 'the full moon often looks larger when near the horizon.
'The Moon, like all planets, gives out no light of its own, but instead shines by reflecting sunlight. On Friday morning, the Moon during its monthly orbit of the Earth will pass through the Earth's shadow.
'During this period as sunlight can no longer reach the Moon you might expect it to be invisible but instead a small amount of sunlight reaches the Moon after passing through the Earth's atmosphere and this light is then reflected off the lunar surface making it visible to us on Earth.'
A lunar eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth, and a full Moon form a near-perfect lineup in space, in what is known as syzygy.
As the Moon swings into Earth's shadow, it gradually darkens, until the entire lunar disk turns from white to red, before the sequence reverses. The last time it happened was in 2022.
Anyone standing on the Moon during a lunar eclipse would see Earth's silhouette cover the Sun, encircled by a reddish glow created by all the sunrises and sunsets happening in the world at that moment.
Unlike a solar eclipse, lunar eclipses are safe to view with the naked eye because they only reflect sunlight – so do not get any brighter than a full Moon.
However, experts said binoculars or a backyard telescope would also give a more enhanced view.
Although it is known as a 'blood moon', the colour can change depending on the state of the Earth's atmosphere, with the lunar surface sometimes appearing orange or copper.
If lots of clouds are present or a major volcanic eruption has recently polluted the stratosphere, a lunar eclipse can be dark red, ashen brown, or rarely almost black.
Those up early to watch the eclipse in Britain should also be able to see the planets Jupiter and Mars. The Moon's dimmed light may also make constellations easier to spot than normal.
