How to view the “Blood Moon” lunar eclipse, in the wee hours of Wednesday

Xeni Jardin 2:59 pm Tue Oct 7, 2014

Blood moon during the total lunar eclipse in April 2014. Dominic Milan / NASA.

Blood moon during the total lunar eclipse in April 2014. Dominic Milan / NASA.

When our planet passes between the sun and moon in the early morning on Wednesday, October 8, 2014, the moon—-which will be in Earth’s shadow–will appear to glow blood-red.

This lunar eclipse will be pretty badass, and just in time for Halloween. NASA has a great website explaining how and when and where to view this beautiful sky spectacle, and here's a PDF with instructions (shown below as a JPEG). For local times, timeanddate.com is a good resource.

The total eclipse is the second of four over a two-year period that began April 15 and concludes on Sept. 28, 2015. The so-called tetrad is unusual because the full eclipses are visible in all or parts of the United States, according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak. Weather permitting, Wednesday's eclipse should be visible to skywatchers in North America, Australia, western South America and parts of East Asia. The eclipse should reach totality just before sunrise, at 6:25 a.m. EDT (1025 GMT).

The aforementioned Mr. Espenak is known as "Mr. Eclipse," and his EclipseWise.com website is a terrific resource for eclipse-watchers.

Unlike eclipses of the Sun, lunar eclipses are totally safe to view with the naked eye. And if you wish, you can even view the eclipse while naked.

eclipse

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