WASHINGTON — This week the moon will fly through Earth’s shadow and turn blood red for many hours. Here are the details:
NASA reports that the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years will take place this week.
The near-total eclipse will happen between November 18 and 19 while the moon is full and the Earth moves between the moon and the sun, causing the Earth’s shadow to fall on the moon for almost three-and-a-half hours.
The shadow will block most of the light from the sun, bathing the moon in a dramatic red color.
This dramatic reddening of the moon happens because light from the sun, despite being blocked by Earth, bends around our planet and travels through our atmosphere to reach the moon.
Earth's atmosphere filters out shorter, bluer wavelengths of light and allows redder wavelengths through.
After these red wavelengths pass through our atmosphere, they continue traveling to the moon, bathing it in red light.
The eclipse will be visible from North America and the Pacific Ocean, Alaska, Western Europe, eastern Australia, New Zealand and Japan. To get exact eclipse timings for your location, you can visit websites like timeanddate.com.
NASA calls this the eclipse of the Micro Beaver Full Moon. The Micro Beaver Full Moon is so named because it occurs when the moon is at its farthest point from Earth at a time when the beaver-trapping season is about to start.
