The March full moon glows red through Saharan dust in eerie composite view
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The full Worm Moon rises off the coast of the United Kingdom. | Credit: Josh Dury
Astrophotographer Josh Dury captured a stunning composite view of March’s full moon as it rose off the coast of the UK, just hours after a dramatic blood moon total lunar eclipse.
“This image was taken from the Dorset coast looking out to sea,” Dury told Space.com. “Even if the lunar eclipse was not visible from the UK this time, the Sahara dust in the atmosphere would give the illusion that it was. A deep blood red on the horizon. A provocative image. Like a worm, the Moon Worm emerges from hell. The end of winter and spring. »
Walking full moon is known as the Worm Moon to refer to the time of year when the soil softens enough to allow earthworms and beetles to emerge into the open air. The Worm Moon of 2026 coincided with a total lunar eclipseas the lunar disk passed into the inner part of our planet’s shadow known as the umbra, causing it to turn a rusty red color as the light of each sunrise and sunset brightened. Earth was refracted on its surface.
Dury captured several moody shots of the Worm Moon rising on the night of March 3 using a telephoto lens, before combining them into one visually stunning composition during the post-processing stage, which traced its path across the evening sky.
The distinctive red of the moon in Dury’s image had nothing to do with the eclipse itself – which had occurred just hours earlier – but rather resulted from an atmospheric phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering.
As sunlight reflected from the moon takes an extended journey across Earth’s atmosphere While close to the horizon, the bluer wavelengths are filtered and blocked by particles in our atmosphere, while the longer red wavelengths can pass through relatively unperturbed. This effect gave the Moon a rusty hue, made even more spectacular by the presence of airborne dust, carried by atmospheric currents thousands of kilometers north of the Sahara Desert.
Inspired to take your own photos of the moon? So be sure to read our expert’s guide to photographing the lunar surfacewritten by Dury, accompanied by our summaries of best lenses And camera bodies for capturing the sky after sunset.
Editor’s note: If you would like to share your lunar photography with Space.com readers, please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
