A blood red moon is expected to be visible across Australia on Wednesday night (Oct. 8).
The astronomical event has only taken place a handful of times during the last 500 years. A blood moon only occurs in the event of a total lunar eclipse, when the sun, Earth, and moon all form a line and the Earth blocks out all sunlight to the moon.
The moon turns a deep red while some light from the sun is bent around Earth's atmosphere and reflected onto the moon, according to Yahoo News.
The light reflected is a reddish color from all the sunsets and sunrises of the Earth shining onto the moon.
This eclipse is expected to take place in the evening, giving people in Australia plenty of time to head outdoors and watch it. You also won't need a telescope or any other special equipment to view it as well.
From Western Australia the eclipse will have started by the time the moon rises. The moon will be almost fully eclipsed in Perth as it first appears above the eastern horizon.
Totality will take place just a few minutes later.
Further north around Broome, the moon rises a little earlier, so just half of the moon will be eclipsed at sunrise, according to Yahoo.
The rest of Australia will be able to see the entire eclipse, with the moon visible in the eastern sky.
Dr. Alan Duffy, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology, said in a statement there are key aspects of the event to look for.
"The eclipse begins with a shadow slowly appearing on the surface of the Moon. Over the next hour more of the Moon will be covered until eventually it lies directly behind the Earth away from the Sun," Duffy said, according to Yahoo. "At this point the Moon should be blacked-out but it will actually appear blood red. This colour is from all the sunrises and sunsets of Earth shining onto the Moon."
"The phase of totality with a red moon lasts for an hour, before the Moon begins to leave the umbra and the series of events reverses over the course of the final hour," he added.
This blood moon is the second of four, the first occurred back in April. At least two lunar eclipses occur every year, though seven are expected in 2038.
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