March’s full moon will be a special one this Friday morning. This full worm moon will be a total lunar eclipse.

A lunar eclipse happens when the sun, Earth and moon come together in a line.

The Earth passes between the sun and moon.

The timing on this eclipse isn’t exactly on our side. It will take place in the middle of the night. The total eclipse will be happening between 2:26 and 3:31 a.m. That’s when the moon will be covered by the Earth’s shadow and take on a reddish hue. This is also known as the blood moon.

The Earth’s atmosphere acts like a lens, it scatters the blue/shorter wavelengths (colors) more, and refracts the red/longer ones. The longer wavelengths bend toward the moon and it appears red. It’s like taking all of Earth’s sunrises and sunsets and throwing those beautiful colors directly onto the moon.

The one obstacle the tri-state area will face will be the weather.

Unfortunately, the forecast calls for a mostly cloudy sky overnight Thursday into Friday. Viewing conditions don’t look the best at this time and we have to hope there will be some breaks in the clouds just at the right time.

Lunar eclipses occur on average one or two times a year. Lunar and solar eclipses also come in pairs. Check back with us for more on the partial solar eclipse coming at the end of the month on March 29.

Here is the timeline of the event:

11:57 p.m. – 1:09 a.m. EDT: Moon gradually dims

2:26 a.m. – 3:31 a.m. EDT: Moon will get covered by the darker shadow and turn red. This is the total eclipse. Greatest eclipse occurs at 2:59 a.m. EDT

3:31 a.m. – 4:48 a.m. EDT: Moon will exit the full shadow

4:48 a.m. – 6:00 a.m. EDT: Moon exits lighter shadow

7:17 a.m. EDT: Moon sets