Total Lunar Eclipse Coming Soon Over RI Skies: When To Look Up

RHODE ISLAND — Residents of Rhode Island may want to book a day off work or school on March 14 so they can stay up the night before and drink in the “blood moon” — a full lunar eclipse, the first since 2022.

In a total lunar eclipse, the moon moves into the inner part of Earth’s shadow, or umbra, bathing the moon in darkness. According to NASA, some of the sunlight passing through our planet’s atmosphere reaches the moon’s surface, giving it the trademark color. A partial eclipse occurs when only part of Earth’s shadow covers the moon.

The moon will look dark red or orange for about 65 minutes, but the entire event will last just over six hours. Residents of Rhode Island — all of North America, in fact — will be able to see it from start to finish. Here’s what to expect:

Penumbral phase: The moon enters Earth’s fuzzy outer shadow and loses brightness. This phase lasts from 11:57 p.m. EDT on March 13 until 1:09 a.m. on the 14th.

Partial phase: The moon begins to enter Earth’s darker umbral shadow and begins to turn red from 1:09 a.m. to 2:26 a.m.

Totality: The entire moon is within Earth’s shadow from 2:26 a.m. to 3:31 a.m.

Partial phase: The spectacle reverses with another partial phase from 3:31 a.m. to 4:47 a.m.

Penumbral phase: From 4:47 a.m. to 6 a.m., the moon will exit Earth’s shadow.

For the best views of the total lunar eclipse, get as far away from urban light pollution as possible. The entire eclipse is visible with the naked eye, but backyard telescopes and binoculars help skywatchers see the movement of Earth’s shadow across the surface of the moon.

• Related: 2025 Guide To Meteor Showers, Eclipses, Full Moons And Supermoons

Another total lunar eclipse will occur overnight Sept. 7-8, 2005, with the full corn moon but most people in North America won’t be able to see it, according to NASA. A March 3, 2026 total lunar eclipse will be visible across the western U.S.

How To Shoot The Moon

The blood moon offers a rare opportunity for photographers to capture moonshots that are sure to flood social media feeds. A cellphone can take a decent shot, but won’t capture super-detailed images of the subterranean surface of the moon.

For that, you’ll need more sophisticated camera equipment. The longer the lens, the better the results, but the 600mm-800mm lenses professional photographers use aren’t in most people’s camera bags. Neither are lenses with massively wide-open apertures of f/1/4. A 300mm lens with a low aperture setting will deliver a sharp, detailed image. You’ll also need a tripod.

Because the moon is in Earth’s shadow, you’ll need a longer shutter speed. Shoot with an ISO of 400 and an aperture setting of around f/2.8. You should shoot in manual mode and use the raw setting, an option on most digital cameras.

When using a cellphone to photograph the blood moon, use a tripod, a telephoto lens, and a long-exposure app. Because cellphone cameras don’t have apertures, light is controlled by exposure. If you don’t have the app, adjust the phone’s camera to pro mode and change the exposure settings yourself. The longer the shutter is open the more light will be captured. Use the raw setting on cell phone cameras.

Don’t digitally zoom in on the moon so it will fill more of the frame. That can greatly degrade quality. Instead, keep the moon relatively small and frame it against the landscape, for example with significant buildings or structures in the foreground.

It’s Also The Worm Moon

It’s possible you may see worms wiggling out of the ground as the eclipse ends. The full worm moon is one of many monikers used to describe Earth’s satellite at this phase in its orbit.

Indigenous tribes named the full moons to keep track of the passing year, choosing the names to reflect the tribe’s customs and culture, and local climate and ecology.

Many people believe the full worm moon was so named because it’s the time of year when earthworms, awoken by the vibrations of spring raindrops on the soil surface, retreat from their underground burrows, easy prey for the first robins of spring.

But there’s another explanation.

In the 1760s, Jonathan Carver, the captain of a Massachusetts colonial unit, explorer and writer, visited Native American tribes in North Dakota. In a published account of his expedition, he wrote that the term “worm” referred to beetle larvae that emerge from the thawing bark of trees as spring nears.