Keen stargazers across the country will be staying up well past their bedtimes to see a rare ‘blood Moon’ this Tuesday.
At around 9.45pm, the Moon will begin to move into the Earth’s shadow on its way to a total lunar eclipse.
Stardome astronomer Josh Aoraki told 1News this one was extra special as Kiwis would get to witness it in its entirety.
'Quite special': NZ in for a front-row seat to rare lunar eclipse - Watch on TVNZ+
"Lunar eclipses are not rare per se … we often get them during moonrise or moonset, but to see the entire duration of the eclipse is much rarer.”
The Moon will start to turn red around 11pm, reach total eclipse around midnight, and maximum eclipse at 12.33am – the best time to see it.
New Zealand will be one of the only countries able to see the eclipse for its entire duration. There won't be another total lunar eclipse until 2028.
Unlike solar eclipses, excited stargazers won’t need any special equipment or eye protection to observe the phenomenon.
Asked whether there are better places to view the blood Moon than others, Aoraki said it all depends on the weather.
"It's gonna be really high in the sky all across Aotearoa. The only thing we need is a clear sky. I like to not think about it and just hope for the best."
The science behind the blood
A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth blocks all the Sun’s light from reaching the Moon directly, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
It can only happen during a full Moon, and when the two celestial bodies’ orbits align.
During an eclipse, Earth casts two types of shadows.
The Moon will move into a larger shadow known as the penumbra at 9.45pm, before beginning to enter the smaller, darker umbra shadow at around 11pm.
This is where it will start to turn red, with the blood Moon at its most striking just past midnight when it falls completely into the umbral shadow.
It turns red, rather than disappearing, because of the way light interacts with the atmosphere.
While shorter blue wavelengths of light are scattered outward, longer red wavelengths are bent inward, hitting the Moon within the umbra.
The strength of the red glow cast on the Moon depends on the amount of dust and cloud in Earth's atmosphere at the time.
With the Moon slowly inching further away from Earth, there will be a time, billions of years from now, when total lunar eclipses are no longer possible.
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