Much of the world will get to witness the spectacle of a total lunar eclipse on Sunday night.
A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun, briefly aligning in a way that completely shadows the Moon.
A full moon lunar eclipse happens in three phases. The first phase is the penumbral phase when the Moon starts to enter Earth’s shadow. Then the partial phase begins, when a part of the moon enters the deep part of Earth’s shadow called the umbra.
Next is totality, when the Moon is completely submerged in the Earth’s shadow. Then the phases end in order too. First totality ends, then the partial eclipse and finally the penumbral eclipse ends.
When the Moon is totally submerged in the Earth’s shadow, the light that does reach the moon’s surface has to pass through Earth’s atmosphere. During this, shorter wavelengths of light, like blue, scatter and only the longer wavelengths, like red, reach the surface.
This creates a dark, rusty red hue around the moon during the totality phase, which is why people often refer to total lunar eclipses as the “blood moon.” This blood moon effect is expected to be visible during this eclipse.
The totality phase of Sunday’s lunar eclipse will last an unusually long 83 minutes, one of the longest we will get to experience in decades, according to National Geographic.
Here’s everything you need to know about Sunday’s total lunar eclipse.
How rare is a total lunar eclipse?
The Moon has a tilted orbit, so we don’t get a total lunar eclipse every lunar cycle, which is roughly every month.
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