{"id":17043,"date":"2026-03-02T20:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/total-lunar-eclipse-will-turn-the-full-moon-red-but-will-the-skies-be-clear-enough-to-see-it\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T20:52:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:52:36","slug":"total-lunar-eclipse-will-turn-the-full-moon-red-but-will-the-skies-be-clear-enough-to-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/total-lunar-eclipse-will-turn-the-full-moon-red-but-will-the-skies-be-clear-enough-to-see-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Total lunar eclipse will turn the full moon red \u2014 but will the skies be clear enough to see it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A photo sequence shows the total lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025. (Sky & Telescope Photo \/ Edwin L. Aguirre and Imelda B. Joson).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tonight\u2019s full moon will turn into a red moon during the last total lunar eclipse we\u2019ll be able to see for the next two years \u2014 but whether we\u2019ll truly be able to see it with our own eyes depends on the weather. And that\u2019s an iffy proposition for Pacific Northwest skywatchers.<\/p>\n

The good news is that total lunar eclipses, unlike a total solar eclipse, can be seen from an entire hemisphere at a time. They occur when the orbital mechanics are just right for Earth to pass directly between the moon and the sun. For about an hour, Earth\u2019s shadow blots out the sun\u2019s rays, except for reddish wavelengths that are refracted by our planet\u2019s atmosphere. That\u2019s what lends the moon its blood-red color.<\/p>\n

Tonight\u2019s eclipse begins with a barely discernable penumbral phase at around 1:30 a.m. PT Tuesday, gets into its partial phase at 1:50 a.m. and enters totality at 3:04 a.m. The eclipse\u2019s total phase ends at 4:03 a.m., and the partial phase winds down over the following hour or two.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This chart tracks the progression of the March 3 total lunar eclipse. (NASA Scientific Visualization Studio \/ Ernie Wright)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bad news, at least for night owls in the Seattle area, is that the skies are projected to cloud over just before the eclipse starts. To check the National Weather Service\u2019s graphical forecast, follow this link and select \u201cSky Cover\u201d for the desired time (1 to 4 a.m. PT Tuesday). The chart at ClearDarkSky.com can provide a second opinion. (Look at the \u201cCloud Cover\u201d and \u201cECMWF Cloud\u201d categories.)<\/p>\n

Seattleites who are desperate to witness totality can improve their chances by heading east.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, there\u2019s an almost<\/em> total lunar eclipse on tap for August, but the next true dose of lunar totality is due to hit in 2028 on New Year\u2019s Eve \u2014 and for what it\u2019s worth, skywatchers in Seattle won\u2019t be able to see the total phase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A photo sequence shows the total lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025. (Sky & Telescope Photo \/ Edwin L. Aguirre and Imelda B. Joson). Tonight\u2019s full moon will turn into a red moon during the last total lunar eclipse we\u2019ll be able to see for the next two years \u2014 but whether we\u2019ll truly be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1661,1409,4377,625,4378],"class_list":["post-17043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astronomy","tag-eclipse","tag-lunar-eclipse","tag-moon","tag-skywatching"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}