Did you see this morning’s total lunar eclipse?
Did you see this morning’s dramatic total lunar eclipse?
The view of Earth’s shadow moving across the lunar surface before engulfing it completely to turn the Moon an orangey-reddish hue is one of nature’s best sights.
Whether you saw it, it was covered in cloud or if you were on the day-side of Earth when it happened (in which case you could watch a replay) you probably have the same question: when is the next one?
The bad news is it’s a long wait.
The last year there wasn’t a total lunar eclipse was 2017, so you’re probably getting used to them being a common occurrence. However the celestial spectacle now takes a break for a few years.
When is the next ‘Blood Moon’ total lunar eclipse?
Total lunar eclipses normally come in triads, or groups of three. Today’s was the third and final in such a grouping. This is what happens next:
- March 14, 2025 (totality 65 minutes—visible from North America)
- September 7, 2025 (totality 82 minutes—not visible from North America)
- March 3, 2026 (totality 58 minutes—visible from North America)
There’s then a year off before another three:
- December 31, 2028 (totality 72 minutes—visible from northwestern North America)
- June 26, 2029 (totality 102 minutes—visible from North America)
- December 20, 2029 (totality 54 minutes—visible from North America)
A total solar eclipse from Grand Teton National Park on August 21, 2017 outside Jackson, Wyoming.
When is the next total solar eclipse?
Although total lunar eclipses are gorgeous and strange in equal measures, the celestial sight you should really aim for is a total solar eclipse.
Occurring when the Moon completely blocks the Sun, totality lasts just a few minutes and is as dramatic a sight as you will ever see. The chief attraction is to gaze at the Sun’s tenuous white corona with naked eyes.
The next solar eclipse to occur anywhere in the world will be a total solar eclipse on April 20, 2023. The path of totality for that event begins in the Indian Ocean and ends in the Pacific Ocean, crossing Exmouth Peninsula in Western Australia as well as Timor Leste and West Papua.
After that on April 8, 2024 comes a dramatic total solar eclipse with a totality lasting over four minutes across North America.
Why do solar and lunar eclipses occur?
Neither solar nor lunar eclipses occur can every month because the Moon’s orbit of Earth is tilted by 5º to the ecliptic—the apparent path of the Sun through our daytime sky and the plane of Earth’s orbit of the Sun. So usually the New Moon is above or below the Sun and the full Moon is above or below Earth’s shadow.
However, the Moon’s orbital path does intersect the ecliptic twice each month at positions called nodes. It’s when the Moon reaches those nodes at either a full Moon or a New Moon that an eclipse occurs, and sets off a chain of events that sees the Moon at the corresponding node two weeks later to cause the corresponding type of the eclipse.
Disclaimer: I am the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
