{"id":119476,"date":"2025-09-06T22:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119476\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T22:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T22:03:07","slug":"get-ready-the-blood-moon-total-lunar-eclipse-is-about-to-happen-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/119476\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Ready! The &#8216;Blood Moon&#8217; Total Lunar Eclipse Is About to Happen : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Stargazers will have a chance to see a &#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/blood-moon\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73072\" data-postid=\"173237\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">Blood Moon<\/a>&#8221; on Sunday night during a total  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/blood-moon\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73072\" data-postid=\"173237\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">lunar eclipse<\/a> visible across Asia and swathes of Europe and Africa.<\/p>\n<p>When the Sun, Earth, and Moon <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/moon\/eclipses\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">line up<\/a>, the shadow cast by the planet on its satellite makes it appear an eerie, deep red colour that has astounded humans for millennia.<\/p>\n<p>People in Asia, including India and China, will be best placed to see Sunday&#8217;s total eclipse, which will also be visible on the eastern edge of Africa as well as in western Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/most-of-the-world-will-see-an-eerie-82-minute-blood-moon-this-month\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Most of The World Will See an Eerie 82-Minute Blood Moon This Month<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The total lunar eclipse will last from 1730 GMT to 1852 GMT.<\/p>\n<p>Stargazers in Europe and Africa will get a brief chance to see a partial eclipse just as  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/moon\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73106\" data-postid=\"173237\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">the Moon<\/a> rises during the early evening, while the Americas will miss out.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/eclipse-visibility.jpg\" alt=\"Most of The World Will See an Eerie 82-Minute Blood Moon This Month\" width=\"642\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-172729\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/>A diagram showing where in the world the eclipse will be visible. The lightest regions have the best view; the darkest region won&#8217;t see it at all. (<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Visibility_Lunar_Eclipse_2025-09-07.png\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASA<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The Moon appears red during lunar eclipses because the only sunlight reaching it is &#8220;reflected and scattered through the Earth&#8217;s atmosphere&#8221;, said Ryan Milligan, an astrophysicist at Northern Ireland&#8217;s Queen&#8217;s University Belfast.<\/p>\n<p>Blue wavelengths of light are shorter than red ones, so are more easily dispersed as they travel through Earth&#8217;s atmosphere, he told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what gives the Moon its red, bloody colour.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Blood_moon_diagram.jpeg\" alt=\"Illustration of a lunar eclipse\" width=\"2020\" height=\"1160\" class=\"size-full wp-image-80338\"   loading=\"lazy\"\/>Diagram of a lunar eclipse. Not to scale. (ScienceAlert)<\/p>\n<p>While special glasses or pinhole projectors are needed to safely observe solar eclipses, all that is required to see a lunar eclipse is clear weather \u2013 and being in the right spot.<\/p>\n<p>The last total lunar eclipse was in March this year, while the one before that was in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Milligan, a self-described &#8220;solar eclipse chaser&#8221;, said he considered Sunday&#8217;s event a prelude to what he called the &#8220;big one&#8221; next year.<\/p>\n<p>A rare total solar eclipse, when the Moon blocks out the light from the Sun, will be visible in a sliver of Europe on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeanddate.com\/eclipse\/solar\/2026-august-12\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">August 12, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For more than a decade, Milligan has travelled the world to witness 12 totalities, which is when the Moon completely obscures the Sun.<\/p>\n<p>Next year&#8217;s totality \u2013 the first in mainland Europe since 2006 \u2013 will be visible only in Spain and Iceland, though other countries will be able to see a significant partial eclipse.<\/p>\n<p>In Spain, the totality will be visible in a roughly 160-kilometre (100-mile) band between Madrid and Barcelona, but neither city will see the full phenomenon, Milligan said.<\/p>\n<p>It will be the first total solar eclipse since one swept across North America in April 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/terms-and-conditions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Agence France-Presse<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stargazers will have a chance to see a &#8221; Blood Moon&#8221; on Sunday night during a total lunar&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-119476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}