A lunar eclipse appears behind a gargoyle atop the old red Dallas County Courthouse early Wednesday morning, Oct. 8, 2014. The moon appears orange or red, the result of sunlight scattering off Earth's atmosphere. This is known as the blood moon. Credit: AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox
Blood Moon:Total Lunar Eclipse October 8,2014 Time Lapse HD Video. Credit: NASA The NASA timelapse video above shows the Moon re-appearing from the Earth's shadow. A total lunar eclipse has been visible across much of the Americas and Asia, resulting in a dramatic "Blood Moon". The eclipse began at 08:00 GMT on the east US coast and was visible in Asia at about 10:00 GMT. During the eclipse, which is the second to occur this year, our only natural satellite was fully covered by the Earth's shadow. The Moon appears orange or red, the result of sunlight scattering off our atmosphere, hence the name Blood Moon. Weather permitting, skywatchers in North America, Australia, western South America and parts of East Asia were able to see the spectacle. The Hong Kong Space Museum set up free viewing locations on a harbour-side promenade
On April 15th, 2014 there will be a total lunar eclipse visible from North America. Noah Petro, LRO Deputy Project Scientist, discusses this unique event and what effect it will have on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
When people in North America look up at the sky in the early morning hours of April 15, they can expect the moon to look a little different.
A total lunar eclipse is expected at this time, a phenomenon that occurs when the Earth, moon and sun are in perfect alignment, blanketing the moon in the Earth's shadow.
Although lunar eclipses happen multiple times in a year during a full moon, this eclipse will be a particularly unusual viewing opportunity for North America.
Since the Earth's Western Hemisphere will be facing the moon during the eclipse, the continent will be in prime position to view it from start to finish.
In addition, the eclipse will coincide with nighttime in North America. The entire continent won't be able to witness a full lunar eclipse in its entirety again until 2019.
"Sometimes they'll happen and you'll have to be somewhere else on Earth to see them," said Noah Petro, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter deputy project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Most [residents] of the continental United States will be able to see the whole thing."
For those who are awake to watch the eclipse, which is scheduled to begin around 2:00 a.m. EDT and last over three hours, Petro said there would be several changes people can witness.
When the moon first enters the Earth's partial shadow, know as the penumbra, a dark shadow will begin creeping across the moon.
This will give the illusion that the moon is changing phases in a matter of minutes instead of weeks.
"Eventually there will be a chunk of darkness eating the moon," Petro said.
Mars takes the celestial stage Tuesday night (April 8) when it lines up with the Earth and our Sun, in a kind of cosmic preview to the Red Planet's closest approach to Earth during a total lunar eclipse later this month.
The alignment between Mars, the Earth and the sun is called "opposition" because Mars and the sun are opposite to each other in our sky.
Opposition and the date of closest encounter are slightly different because Earth and Mars are not in perfectly circular orbits.
Oppositions between Earth and Mars happen about every 26 months because the planets are relatively close to one another.
NASA and other agencies often take advantage of these close approaches to send spacecraft that way.
India's space agency, ISRO's first Mars orbiter will also arrive at the Red Planet in September after its own launch last year.
The opposition of Mars comes just seven days ahead of the planet's closest approach to Earth on the night of April 14.
The Red Planet and Earth are converging ever closer to their cosmic encounter at a rate of about 186 miles (300 kilometers) a minute, according to a NASA skywatching advisory.
On April 14, Mars and Earth will be only 57 million miles (92 million kilometers) apart. This is a bit more than half the distance between Earth and the sun, which is about 93 million miles (150 million km).
By coincidence, Mars' closest approach to Earth occurs on the same night as a total lunar eclipse.
Weather permitting, observers could see a blood-red appear to glide just south of ruddy Mars as it passes through Earth's shadow in the late-night sky.
This should make the planet easy to spot in the constellation Virgo while the moon, just a few degrees south, is in total eclipse as seen from North America.
The total lunar eclipse starts at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT) on April 15. The moon will spend 78 minutes in total starting around 3 a.m.
The moon will turn a Martian-looking red during the eclipse due to light from the sun shining through the Earth's atmosphere.
Flowering tree branches delicately frame the partial lunar eclipse of April 25, 2013, in Ohrid, Macedonia. CREDIT: Stojan Stojanovski/Amateur Astronomy Association Ohrid Macedonia
The moon toe-dipped through the Earth's shadow in a partial lunar eclipse Thursday (April 25), but stargazers around the world still captured surprisingly spectacular views of what they expected to be a minor celestial event.
Partial lunar eclipses like Thursday's event occasionally receive a bad rap because they aren't nearly as dramatic as the red glow of the moon during a total lunar eclipse, and some times they aren't even noticeable.
The lunar eclipse's entirety was primarily visible from Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Europe, so stargazers in other parts of the world had to rely on webcasts such as provided by the Slooh Space Camera site to catch the event.
A NASA spacecraft has captured stunning footage of Tuesday's (Feb. 21) partial solar eclipse, which left our star looking briefly like a huge celestial Pac-Man.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was watching Tuesday morning when the new moon crossed part of the sun's face in a partial eclipse that was visible only from space.
SDO snapped a video and photos of the solar eclipse from its lofty perch 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above Earth.
Siberian Totality by Anthony Ayiomamitis (Greece). Taken during a total eclipse of the Sun, this image reveals the faint solar corona usually hidden by the photosphere. The long streamers and prominences show the sun's activity beyond the surface, reaching out into the solar system
A partial lunar eclipse which was unusually magnified to viewers in North America has now ended.
The eclipse began at 1017 GMT, when the Moon entered the shadow of Earth, and lasted around three hours.
Because of the timing, the eclipse was not visible from the UK or Europe.
But in many parts of the US and Canada, the eclipse appeared larger because it occurred while the Moon was close to the horizon. The effect is known as the "Moon illusion".
According to Nasa, low-hanging Moons look "unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects". The reason for this is not understood.
"Observers in India, Japan, and parts of East Asia will experience the same phenomenon," Nasa wrote on its website.
"They'll see the eclipse on Saturday evening as the Moon is rising."
At its maximum, 54% of the Moon's diameter was covered. This occurred at 0438 US Pacific time (1138 GMT).
Because the Moon, Sun and Earth were not aligned, the eclipse did not reach "totality".
A full lunar eclipse will take place in December and will be visible throughout North America.
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