The
moon glows a red hue during a total lunar eclipse Tuesday, April 15,
2014, as seen from the Milwaukee area. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel /
Mike De Sisti)
A "blood moon" is expected to make a brief appearance Saturday morning for the shortest lunar eclipse of the century.
At 6:16 a.m. ET, the "bright full moon will turn a shady red," NASA said in a press release. The phenomenon will last a mere five minutes.
Early-risers in eastern Canada will have a chance of seeing the beginning stages of the spectacle just before sunrise. If skies are clear, the moon will appear low in the west of the sky, NASA said.
Unfortunately, the current forecast isn’t promising. Toronto is
expecting partial cloud cover at the time of the eclipse, Ottawa skies
are expected to be cloudy, Montreal is expecting snow, and Halifax is
expecting rain.
Outside of Canada, most of the United States will also have a chance to see the beginning of the eclipse, while sky-watchers in India, western China, and Russia could spot the end stages of the eclipse just after their sunset.
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into the earth’s shadow. When this happens, the earth blocks the sun's light from directly hitting the moon.
This does not mean the moon goes completely black, however. Some light does indirectly reach the moon, but it has to pass through the earth’s atmosphere, which filters out the blue light. This causes the blood moon's red tint.
Saturday's lunar eclipse is the third in the "tetrad" series of eclipses. The fourth and final tetrad eclipse will be Sept. 28.
Viewers are invited to ask questions about the eclipse by tweeting Mitzi Adams, a NASA astronomer in Alabama, at @NASA_Marshall, using the hashtag #eclipse2015. Adams will be online starting at 6 a.m. ET Saturday.
At 6:16 a.m. ET, the "bright full moon will turn a shady red," NASA said in a press release. The phenomenon will last a mere five minutes.
Early-risers in eastern Canada will have a chance of seeing the beginning stages of the spectacle just before sunrise. If skies are clear, the moon will appear low in the west of the sky, NASA said.
Outside of Canada, most of the United States will also have a chance to see the beginning of the eclipse, while sky-watchers in India, western China, and Russia could spot the end stages of the eclipse just after their sunset.
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into the earth’s shadow. When this happens, the earth blocks the sun's light from directly hitting the moon.
This does not mean the moon goes completely black, however. Some light does indirectly reach the moon, but it has to pass through the earth’s atmosphere, which filters out the blue light. This causes the blood moon's red tint.
Saturday's lunar eclipse is the third in the "tetrad" series of eclipses. The fourth and final tetrad eclipse will be Sept. 28.
Viewers are invited to ask questions about the eclipse by tweeting Mitzi Adams, a NASA astronomer in Alabama, at @NASA_Marshall, using the hashtag #eclipse2015. Adams will be online starting at 6 a.m. ET Saturday.
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