The Moon will pass through the edge of the Earth’s shadow on 4 April, and for less than five minutes, Australians will be able to witness it turning a shade of red, orange or brown.
The reddish colour of the ‘Blood Moon’ is a reflection of the sunset and sunrise across the globe at that point in time.
The lunar eclipse should be visible from 10:58pm until 11:03 pm across most of Australia, with 11pm being the greatest or maximum eclipse.
The next total lunar eclipse is not expected in Australia until 31 January 2018.
Astronomer Andrew Smith told AAP that this will be the shortest lunar eclipse in decades, and that all of Australia will be able to witness it.
“If you’re on the eastern seaboard of Australia, it will be very high in the northeast of the sky at totality,” he said.
“So unless you’re standing right next to a skyscraper, or unless the weather is bad, nobody should have any trouble seeing it.”
It may not look very deep as the Moon is “only skirting just inside the edge of the shadow” said Smith.
“But I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t turn some sort of orangey-brown colour, it might just be a slightly-lessened effect this time.”
IMAGE: Blood Moon over Canberra, 8 October 2014: Flickr.com/nicliv
