Get ready to wake up early! In the hours before dawn on Tuesday, Nov. 8, the moon will go into total eclipse. This will be the final total eclipse of the moon until 2025!

Starting at 4:09 am EST on Nov. 8, you will begin to see a bite taken out of the full moon, as it moves into the shadow of Earth. That bite will get bigger until 5:16 am, when the eclipse goes total. During a total lunar eclipse, the entire moon is in Earth’s shadow. The moon turns quite dark, and often turns a dark shade of red. For this reason, a total lunar eclipse is sometimes called a “blood moon.”

During the total phase of the eclipse, Earth is in between the sun and the moon. While Earth’s atmosphere blocks the short wavelengths of blue light from making past our atmosphere and striking the moon, the longer wavelengths of red light make it through our planet’s air and do strike the moon, giving it that eerie “blood moon” color.

From the northeast United States, the moon will still be in eclipse when it sets, roughly at 6:30 am on Nov. 8.

Lunar eclipses are visible to half the world, and occur at the same time throughout that part of the planet, when you adjust for the time zone difference. All of North America will see at least part of this event.

Lunar eclipses are good “do it yourself”’ events for everyone to enjoy together. No eye protection is needed for a lunar eclipse, no telescope is needed, and as long as the weather behaves, the view should be spectacular. Just make sure that you have a location with a clear view of the western horizon; in the Northeast, the moon will be only about 23 degrees above the western horizon when the partial phase starts, which is roughly the width of two fists held at arm’s length.

LSC Space News Now,  moons