Tomorrow, set your alarm clocks for BLOOD- in the heavens.
It’s the last total, blood moon lunar eclipse until 2025. Let’s quickly cover what that means and how to watch it.
A lunar eclipse happens when the earth comes between the moon and the sun, casting its shadow across ‘ol craggy face. It can be partial, or full.
In a total eclipse, the moon actually looks red.
The ancient Inca people explained this as a jaguar attacking and eating the moon
Ancient babylonians believed it portended the death of a king–perfect for election day?
But us scientists have a slightly different take.
Light can bend. Here, light from the sun bends around the earth, and just like at sunrise or sunset, the blue parts of the light get filtered or scattered outward, while the red bends inwards to hit the moon. And just like not all sunsets are equal, if the atmosphere has lots of dust or smoke that can lead to an even redder color.
So. When can you see it? If you’re lazy, never.
Otherwise, the best part–called the totality– starts at 5:16am on the East coast (5:16 on the west) and lasts for 90 minutes.
Here’s the full global map
