How to See the Total Lunar Eclipse and Blood Moon on September 7

The evening From September 7, the second (and final) total lunar eclipse of the year will take place – shake the striking view of a red “blood moon” in the sky through a large part of the world.

Total lunar eclipses occur when the earth is positioned between the full moon and the sun, the moon falling in the shadow of our planet. However, rather than disappearing in darkness, the shaded moon becomes rather red. This is due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh diffusion.

The visible sunlight, although it seems white, is actually made up of lights of different colors which have different wavelengths, and these interact differently with the atmosphere of the earth during the passage. During a lunar eclipse, shorter wavelengths of visible light, towards the blue end of the visible spectrum, disperse outside, far from the region shaded by the earth. But those who have longer wavelengths, towards the red part of the spectrum, are rather folded inward and sunk in the shaded region – and on the surface of the moon.

The first lunar eclipse of this year in March was better seen from the United States, but unfortunately, if you are in the Americas, you will fail to see The Blood Moon Live this time. The total phase of the September eclipse – when the moon is in the shadow of the earth and will appear in deep red – will be visible through Asia, Central and Eastern Africa and Australia. These Timeandddate.com cards show where on the planet the total eclipse can be seen.

The entire phase will start at 5.30 p.m. UTC on September 7, with the time of the maximum eclipse to come about 40 minutes later, at 6:11 pm UTC, and all ends 40 minutes later. Before and after all, the moon will be partially overshadowed, first becoming more then less shaded. Timeanddate.com also has a city search tool, where you can enter your location to find the eclipse schedules for where you are.

If you are not in an observation area but you always want to look live, the virtual telescope project – designed and coordinated by the Italian astrophysicist Gianluca Masi – will provide live broadcast of the eclipse and the blood moon on YouTube.

This total lunar eclipse will occur a little less than three days before the Moon reaches the perigee, the point to which it is closest to the earth, which means that it seems slightly larger than the average during the event.

After September 7, the next total lunar eclipse will not occur until early March 2026, but fortunately for those of the United States, it will be visible in North America, Australia and East Asia.

This story originally appeared on Cable Italy and was translated from the Italian.