Night owls and early risers in North America will be able to watch a rare celestial show on Tuesday (April 15) as Earth's shadow falls across the moon, shifting its color from bright orange to blood red to brown, depending on local weather conditions.
"During a lunar eclipse the moon is going to be sitting in the shadow of the earth. It's sort of going to pass behind the earth, and the earth is going to block almost all of the sunlight from hitting the moon," Nasa scientist Shawn Domogal-Goldman, said.
"If you are looking from earth you are going to see our shadow sort of creep across the moon's surface until it totally blocks the moon. Now when that happens, the moon will appear red. The reason for that is the little bit of sunlight that does get through is going to be the same kind of sunlight we see at sunrise and sunset. It's red. And a way to think of this, is you are going to see all the sunrises and sunsets from all across the planet earth hitting the moon at the same time and then bouncing back down to earth for us to get a really beautiful shot of the moon tonight, during the eclipse," he added.
The lunar eclipse unfolded over three hours beginning at 06.58 BST when the moon begins moving into Earth's shadow. A little more than an hour later, the moon was fully eclipsed and shrouded in a red glow.
The celestial show was over by 10.33 BST according to NASA.