Super blue blood moon makes first appearance since 1866

The moon rises between two office buildings in Bangkok, Thailand.

This means the best chance to catch a view of the eclipse locally is to head to a high place and look in the direction west-northwest, opposite the sunrise.

Let’s break this down.

“This is fantastic, we are usually plagued by the weather gods for anything we have because astromical events usually happen in winter”, Perth astronomy enthusiast Keith Williams said. “So that’s why they’re calling this a super blue blood moon”, Joseph said. And it’s considered a blue moon because it’s the second full moon of the month.

The lunar event is actually a naming convention for the second full moon of the month, and nothing to do with its colour.

According to Sky and Telescope, the last blue moon total lunar eclipse visible from North America happened on March 31, 1866.

Most interesting to scientists, however, is that this is all coinciding with a total lunar eclipse. A supermoon is a particularly close full or new moon, appearing somewhat brighter and bigger.

“You’ve got this wonderful combination”, Day says.

The moon will be full at 8:37 a.m. ET, according to USA Today, but will still appear best on the West Coast between 4 and 7 a.m. PT.

Most parts of the Middle East will however be able to view a total lunar eclipse.

During a Facebook live presentation from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland Tuesday afternoon, NASA Astronomer and Research Scientist Michelle Thaller said the reason the moon will turn red during the total lunar eclipse is that the Earth will be blocking light from the sun.

Unlike a total solar eclipse, which is visible only along a narrow track of our planet’s surface, a total lunar eclipse is visible from half of the Earth at once, weather permitting. In Mountain time, the peak was around 6:30. By 6:50 a.m., the partial eclipse began as the moon began to move into the shadow of the Earth.

The supermoon, Benner said, occurs at perigee – when the moon and earth come the closest during the moon’s orbit.

The clues will be in the surface temperature changes during the event. Instead, this moon will look deep red, as the Sun, Earth and Moon will line up and the Earth would cast a shadow on the moon causing a red tinge. The breath taking celestial phenomenon occurred in several phases over five hours revealing different facets of the moon. There will also be an expert commentary which will give you information about it.