Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Visible Across America: How To Watch

ACROSS AMERICA — The best place to watch the blood moon total lunar eclipse, coming up overnight Sunday and Monday, depends on where you live.

On the East Coast, the moon will be high in the sky when the total lunar eclipse occurs, according to NASA. In many celestial events, including meteor showers, city dwellers miss the show if they’re unable to find a dark sky.

But they should be able to get a decent view of the eclipse just by stepping outside their doors. They could even get a once-in-a-lifetime photograph of the blood moon seemingly dropped on top of an iconic building.

Farther west, the eclipse will be underway when the moon peeks over the horizon. West Coast residents will definitely want to find an unobstructed view of the sky to see the eclipse, according to NASA. One advantage to getting out of town: Once the eclipse is over, skywatchers in rural areas will be able to see the return of the Milky Way to the night skies.

As the sky darkens, West Coasters will get a sudden, dramatic view of the moon, already bathed in a reddish hue — more accurately described as an orange or copper color that is subject to change depending on the amount of dust and other particulate matter in the atmosphere.

The only thing moon lovers need to watch the moon turn red is a clear sky. The eclipse will be visible without a telescope or binoculars — though it never hurts to take them along to get a closer look at the moon’s terrain. You also don’t need protective eyewear, as is necessary when viewing solar eclipses.

• Related: Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse 2022: When And Where See It

“It should be beautiful,” astronomer Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory told The Washington Post. “You don’t need any special equipment. All you need is a clear sky. It would be nice to have binoculars or a small telescope to follow it, because then you can watch as the moon creeps into the Earth’s shadow and see how the shadow appears to move across some of the moon’s prominent albedo features.”

Once you’ve decided on a location, fix your gaze to the east or southeast sky, sit back and enjoy. Lunar eclipses often take a back seat to solar eclipses — such as the 2017 Great American Eclipse and the upcoming 2024 solar eclipse — but as skywatcher, amateur astronomer and Astro Bob blog author Bob King waxed for Sky & Telescope, the eclipse is worth savoring.

“While the transition from daylight to semidarkness happens rapidly during a total solar eclipse, the lunar version is more casual, though not without the power to touch our emotions,” King wrote. “As totality approaches, the sky darkens by degrees until all the stars return. Drained of direct sunlight the Moon loses its thrall over the heavens. I don't know how, but the loss of moonlight makes it feel quieter outside. Hushed.”

King wrote that outside of totality, his favorite phases of the eclipse are the five-minute intervals before and after totality “when a narrow sliver of uneclipsed Moon stands in vivid contrast to the dark, umbra soaked globe.”

Here are the deets, depending on where you live in the continental U.S.

Source: U.S. Naval Observatory via Sky & Telescope

Why Is It Called A 'Blood Moon'?

Eclipses always occur during a full moon. During a full moon, the sun fully illuminates the face of the moon. During a total eclipse, the entire moon enters the darkest part of Earth's shadow.

In a penumbral eclipse, the moon passes through the outer part of Earth's shadow, only slightly dimming the surface of the moon. In a partial eclipse, part of the moon enters Earth's darkest shadow, the umbra, causing some of the moon to darken significantly.

April’s full moon — called the full flower moon — is considered a supermoon by some definitions. Supermoons occur when the moon is at 90 percent of its closest point, or perigee, to Earth during its elliptical orbit of our planet. Supermoons are an illusion, as the moon isn’t actually larger.

• Related: 2022 Guide To Meteor Showers, Lunar Eclipses, Supermoons
• Related: 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Where To See It; Why You Should Plan Now

"Blood moon" is a descriptive rather than technical astronomical term, though The Old Farmer's Almanac says the phrase is "hyped" and that a fully eclipsed moon is orange, or copper-colored like a penny, but not blood red. The moon's color at totality can also vary depending upon the amount of dust, volcanic ash or other particulate matter in the atmosphere, and because of cloud cover, according to Space.com.

Sunday’s event is the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2022. On Nov. 8, it will be visible across the Americas, Oceania and Asia.

NASA will host a live show at 11 p.m. EDT Sunday featuring eclipse views captured from around the world. You can watch it below on Patch: