Extract from ABC News
This week's blood moon will be visible across Australia. (Getty Images: NurPhoto)
As Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations draw to a close tonight, the Moon will transform into a shade of red.
Australia, Asia and the Americas will be treated to a "blood moon", also known as a total lunar eclipse.
Cultural astronomer Duane Hamacher says the event is a great chance for people to connect with the night sky.
"These days, how often do we get outside and look up at the sky?"
Matt Woods, an amateur astronomer and a tour guide at the Perth Observatory, says anyone in Australia will be able to see it if skies are clear.
"The Moon will look like it's having a chunk taken out," he says.
"Just before it starts looking like it's completely eaten, it'll turn this blood-orange colour."
And unlike the last blood moon in September, you won't have to get up in the middle of the night to see it.
Here's how you can catch a glimpse of Australia's last total lunar eclipse until 2029.
When can I see it?
The whole lunar eclipse process will take roughly three and a half hours, with the blood moon lasting for about an hour.
| NSW, ACT, Vic, Tas | SA | Qld | NT | WA (Perth) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partial eclipse begins | 8:50pm | 8:20pm | 7:50pm | 7:20pm | N/A |
| Total eclipse begins | 10:04pm | 9:34pm | 9:04pm | 8:34pm | 7:04pm |
| Total eclipse peaks | 10.33pm | 10.03pm | 9.33pm | 9.03pm | 7.33pm |
| Total eclipse ends | 11:02pm | 10:32pm | 10:02pm | 9:32pm | 8:02pm |
| Partial eclipse ends | 12:17am | 11:47pm | 11:17pm | 10:47pm | 9:17pm |
Senior curator at the Melbourne Planetarium, Tanya Hill, says there's plenty of time to see the colour of the Moon change.
"Lunar eclipses are really leisurely," she says.
What will I see where I live?
Dr Hill says people living on the east coast will get a good view of the Moon high above the horizon during totality.
"It's lowish to the horizon at the start, but by the time of the blood moon it'll be all good," she says.
While the Moon will be high in the sky for the east coast, people living in Perth and Geraldton will see the eclipse as the Moon rises.
That might make the beginning of the eclipse harder to see in the west, Dr Hill says.
The Moon will be lower on the horizon in the west during the eclipse. (ABC News: Andrew O'Connor)
"[When it rises in Perth] I'm estimating probably about 50 per cent of the Moon will be covered [by the Earth's shadow]," Dr Hill says.
The Moon will also be close to the horizon in the twilight so you'll need a good vantage point.
"It's going to definitely be better if you've got good, clear horizons to the east," Mr Woods says.
"But by the time [the blood moon] finishes, you should see it."
What you will see will also depend upon weather conditions in your local area.
Mr Woods is hoping for clear skies.
Clouds washed out last year's eclipse in Perth, so last time people in the west saw a blood moon was November, 2022.
What causes a lunar eclipse?
A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow.
During a total eclipse the Moon, Earth and Sun line up perfectly — a feat that is relatively rare, according to Dr Hamacher.
"It's an awesome Scrabble word called syzygy," he says.
"For any given location around the world, a total lunar eclipse happens every two and a half years."
Tonight's lunar eclipse will be the fourth visible from Australia in the past five years, with six happening in the same period around the world.
During a lunar eclipse, Earth's shadow passes across the Moon, creating a partial or total eclipse, depending on the location. (ABC: Julie Ramsden)
The lunar eclipse begins when the Moon moves through the Earth's outer shadow, called the penumbra.
The penumbra only casts a faint shadow, so when the Moon is inside it, Dr Hill says "you really can't spot anything".
The partial eclipse begins when the Moon starts to pass into the Earth's darkest and inner shadow — called the umbra.
A lunar eclipse's intensity and duration can depend on where it passes through Earth's shadow. (Wikimedia: March 2026 lunar eclipse/SockPuppetForTomruen/Public Domain)
The Moon will darken from the bottom right side, and will continue across until there is just a sliver of light on the top.
The total eclipse begins once the Moon is completely encompassed by Earth's shadow, turning the entire Moon a shade of red.
"A deeper, longer total lunar eclipse will see the Moon go right through the centre of the shadow," Dr Hill says.
At about 58 minutes, tonight's total eclipse is the shortest since 2021.
As the Moon leaves the umbra, it will go through another partial eclipse and penumbral phase, before it returns to being a full moon.
Why does the Moon turn red?
The colour is due to Earth's atmosphere, which absorbs blue light (hence our blue sky), and allows red light to pass through.
As the red light passes through our atmosphere it is also bent, like a magnifying glass, into Earth's darkest shadow.
If there is volcanic activity or smoke in the air at the time of a blood moon, not a lot of light will reach the Moon, making it appear a lot darker.
If the sky is clear, it appears lighter.
"It can be from a bright copper colour to a blood-red colour," Mr Woods says.
Dr Hamacher says some people may be disappointed to see that the Moon does not appear as red in real life as in some photos online.
"[Photos] make it look like the Moon has heavy red paint on it. It gets red, but it doesn't get that red," he says.
How to photograph the eclipse
Professional photos are often taken with massive camera lenses, but that doesn't mean you can't take a nice picture with what you have.
Phones have a couple of tricks to help objects in photos appear sharper and clearer.
You can often tap on an object you want to focus on in the camera app, and adjust the brightness of the image to fit with it (making it appear sharper and darker).
If the Moon looks too dark in your photos, most phone cameras will allow you to take a long exposure of a few seconds.
Taking a long exposure on a steady surface will allow the phone to take in as much light and data as possible, making the Moon appear sharper and brighter.
As the Moon will appear low in the sky for many, there will most likely be trees and buildings to contrast its colour, potentially making it appear a bit redder.
'Blood moon' and cultural meanings
The lunar new year in China starts on the second new moon after the northern winter solstice, and runs until the full moon 15 days later.
The last day of the festival is celebrated with rows of red paper lanterns signifying luck, joy and prosperity.
This year's Lantern Festival just happens to coincide with a total lunar eclipse aka 'blood moon'.
Astronomer Richard de Grijs from Macquarie University, says there isn't an explicit connection between the two events.
Lunar eclipses have been tracked by Chinese astronomers since ancient times.
Unlike the red lanterns, Dr de Grijs says a red moon is traditionally seen as a natural but "bad omen".
"A reddened moon might suggest an imbalance between yin and yang," he says.
It is a theme that is seen in other cultures.
Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures associate blood moons with death, Dr Hamacher says.
"It's usually something bad, it's usually death and it's usually blood," he says.
"Torres Strait Islanders have been predicting lunar eclipses for a long time."
Peoples in the Western Torres Strait trained to be astronomers are called Zugubau Mabaig: Zugubau meaning spiritual ancestor who became a constellation, and Mabaig meaning man or person.
Part of a Zugubau Mabaig's final stage of initiation was to predict when the lunar eclipses would occur, so a ceremony could be prepared months in advance.
Dr Hamacher says this could be done about 19 years in advance of a total lunar eclipse using skills and knowledge passed down for thousands of years.
"Nowhere … have I seen anything anywhere, that talks about a culture that shares knowledge orally, being able to predict an eclipse."
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