Considering that the entire extent of my moon-related knowledge comes from a nineties Jaffa Cake advert; the prospect of a ‘blood moon’ sounded pretty darn terrifying to me at first. But, upon further research, I can confirm that it actually sounds rather cool. And what’s even cooler is that we should be able to see it from London in the wee small hours of the morning, tomorrow on Friday morning (March 14).
What is a blood moon?
So, long story short: a blood moon is the result of a lunar eclipse. The moon will appear to glow a coppery-red as the Earth’s shadow crosses its surface, blocking the direct sunlight. The reddish glow comes from the small amount of scattered light that manages to travel through the Earth’s atmosphere. The phenomenon certainly doesn’t happen very often. In fact, the lunar eclipse taking place on March 13 and 14 is the first total lunar eclipse to occur in over two years.
How to see the blood moon from London
The great news is that no special equipment or specialist lunar knowledge will be needed in order to see the ‘blood moon’ (although, of course, a telescope will always up your chances). The slightly less great news is that Friday morning is set to be cloudy (because – well… UK weather and all that). Londoners still have a chance of seeing the spectacle in the sky, though. As long as they set their alarms.
The moon will start to enter the Earth’s shadow at 3.57am on March 14, but the best time to catch a glimpse will be at 6.19am, before the moon sets. For the best shot at seeing the ‘blood moon’, find an area with a clear view of the horizon (the higher up, the better) and get away from bright street lights if possible. Good luck, Londoners – we hope it’s simply out of this world.