{"id":310222,"date":"2026-03-03T01:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/310222\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:45:11","slug":"what-to-know-about-tonights-special-blood-moon-lunar-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/310222\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about tonight’s ‘special’ blood moon, lunar eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keen stargazers across the country will be staying up well past their bedtimes to see a rare \u2018blood Moon\u2019 tonight.<\/p>\n

At around 9.45pm, the Moon will begin to move into the Earth\u2019s shadow on its way to a total lunar eclipse.<\/p>\n

Stardome astronomer Josh Aoraki told 1News this one was extra special as Kiwis would get to witness it in its entirety.<\/p>\n

‘Quite special’: NZ in for a front-row seat to rare lunar eclipse – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Stardome<\/p>\n

Stardome astronomer Josh Aoraki. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“Lunar eclipses are not rare per se \u2026 we often get them during moonrise or moonset, but to see the entire duration of the eclipse is much rarer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Moon will start to turn red around 11pm, reach total eclipse around midnight, and maximum eclipse at 12.33am \u2013 the best time to see it.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New Zealand will be one of a few lucky countries able to see the eclipse for its entire duration. (Source: Josh Aoraki)<\/p>\n

Unlike solar eclipses, excited stargazers won\u2019t need any special equipment or eye protection to observe the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Asked whether there are better places to view the blood Moon than others, Aoraki said it all depends on the weather.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

MetService’s forecast today suggests much of the country, other than Wellington and the North Island’s East Coast, can hope for clear skies tonight.<\/p>\n

1News would love to see your photos. You can email them to news@tvnz.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n

The science behind the blood<\/p>\n

A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth blocks all the Sun\u2019s light from reaching the Moon directly, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).<\/p>\n

It can only happen during a full Moon, and when the two celestial bodies\u2019 orbits align.<\/p>\n

During an eclipse, Earth casts two types of shadows. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"During<\/p>\n

During the eclipse, the earth casts two types of shadows, the penumbra and umbra. (Source: Josh Aoraki)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It turns red, rather than disappearing, because of the way light interacts with the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

While shorter blue wavelengths of light are scattered outward, longer red wavelengths are bent inward, hitting the Moon within the umbra.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keen stargazers across the country will be staying up well past their bedtimes to see a rare \u2018blood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-310222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}