Stargazers will be hoping for a clear night on the morning of Monday, 8 September to see a total eclipse of the moon. While not a rare event, the last total lunar eclipse seen in Australia was in 2022 and the next will be in March 2026. A lunar eclipse occurs when the full moon passes through earth's shadow. Earth will be directly between the sun and the moon and the earth's shadow is cast out into space and when everything lines up the moon passes through it. Sometimes called a "blood moon", the moon takes on an orange to red or brown colour as the eclipse progresses. This is due to the refraction of the sun's light passing through the earth's atmosphere - the same way as sunsets and sunrises look orange here on the ground. The light is bent to show the red end of the spectrum as it passes at a shallow angle through the earth's atmosphere. From the moon it would look like an orange sunrise coming up over earth. The bad news is this eclipse is not particularly convenient viewing as it starts at around 1am and goes till after 5am with the main peak of the eclipse - when the moon is entirely in the darkness of the earth's shadow - at 4:10am. The good news is that you don't need any special equipment at all to watch the eclipse. It is quite clear to the naked eye and is just like watching the moon on any other night. If you're keen enough to get out of bed and brave the cold you will be quite stunned at how the night goes from a bright, full moon night to full darkness. It's a bit spookier than it sounds if you've never seen it before. All this, assuming the weather is not cloudy. The eclipse will start at 1:30am on Monday when the moon enters the semi-shadow of earth. The total eclipse begins at 3:30am when the moon enters full shadow and reaches totality at 4:10am when the moon will appear almost totally dark. It ends at 4:50am with the semi-shadow continuing into the morning twilight.
