ORLANDO, Fla. – A total lunar eclipse will soon redden the moon as Earth moves directly between the sun and moon and casts its shadow across the lunar surface.
In the early morning hours of March 3, hope for clear skies and head outside to see if you can catch a glimpse of this celestial event.
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In Central Florida, the moon will begin darken just before 5:30 a.m. The moon will turn blood red as the total eclipse begins just after 6 a.m.
The moon will set at 6:50 a.m., ending the eclipse for Central Florida.
The Western U.S. will see the complete eclipse, but Central Florida will still see a great show with about 45 minutes of totality.
Lunar eclipses occur only during the full moon phase, when the alignment is precise enough for Earth’s shadow to dim the moon over several hours. Each eclipse is visible from roughly half of Earth.
During a total lunar eclipse, the moon passes into Earth’s umbra, the darkest part of its shadow.
Sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere scatters shorter wavelengths like blue and violet, while longer wavelengths such as red and orange reach the moon, giving it a coppery glow.
The effect deepens when Earth’s atmosphere contains more dust or clouds.
Other lunar eclipses include a partial lunar eclipse – which occurs when the alignment is imperfect and only part of the moon enters the umbra, causing the shadow to grow and recede without fully covering the surface. A penumbral eclipse is more subtle, with the Moon passing through the faint outer shadow and dimming so slightly it can be hard to notice.
The March 3 eclipse will unfold across several time zones, with the moon moving from right to left through Earth’s shadow in a sequence tracked in UTC. Totality will be visible in the evening from eastern Asia and Australia, overnight across the Pacific, and in the early morning for North and Central America and far western South America.
The eclipse will be partial in central Asia and much of South America, and not visible at all in Africa or Europe.