A Big Night for the Moon
The Moon is about to pass through Earth’s shadow during a total lunar eclipse on September 7–8, 2025.
Totality—where the Full Moon is completely covered by the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, and turns a “blood red” color—will last for around 1 hour 22 minutes.
A lunar eclipse can be seen by anyone on the nighttime side of Earth with clear skies. For this eclipse, the nighttime side of the globe will include Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia. (North and South America will be on the daytime side of the planet, and will miss this event.)
Eclipse animations, maps, and timingsAccording to our data, around 7 billion people—roughly 85% of the world’s population—have a chance of seeing this eclipse. Our calculations use raw population data provided by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University.
The Phases of an Eclipse
A total lunar eclipse begins with a penumbral phase, where the Moon enters the light outer part of Earth’s shadow (called the penumbra). There is normally little to see during this stage of the eclipse.
Next comes the partial phase, where the dark inner part of Earth’s shadow (the umbra) begins to cover the Moon. It looks like the Full Moon is being eaten away.
When Earth’s umbral shadow covers all of the Moon’s face, the total phase (totality) begins. Around this time, the Moon takes on a reddish color—this is sometimes referred to as a “Blood Moon.”
After totality ends, the Moon moves out of Earth’s shadow, giving us another partial phase, then another penumbral phase. On September 7–8, the entire event will last around 5 hours 27 minutes.
When Can We See This Eclipse?
In Europe and Africa, the eclipse will happen on Sunday evening (September 7). In western parts of Europe and Africa, the Moon will rise during totality; farther east, the Moon will rise during the first partial or penumbral phase of the eclipse.
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Example: In London, the Moon rises at 19:30 (7:30 pm) local time, about 20 minutes before the end of totality.
Across Asia, the eclipse takes place Sunday night/Monday morning (September 7/8). For many cities, the Moon will be high in the night sky during totality.
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Example: In New Delhi (in India’s unusual half-hour time zone), totality begins before midnight at 23:00 (11 pm), and ends after midnight at 00:22 (12:22 am) local time.
In Australia & New Zealand, the eclipse happens in the early hours of Monday morning, September 8, as the Moon drops down toward the western horizon.
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Example: In Sydney, totality begins at 03:30 (3:30 am), and ends at 04:52 (4:52 am) local time—about 1 hour 20 minutes before the Moon sets.
Watch It Live with mungfali.galihkartiwa07.workers.dev
Wherever you are in the world, you can follow the eclipse on our live stream.
Our mobile observatory team of Steffen Thorsen, Anna Smith, and Renate Mauland-Hus will be setting up our telescopes and cameras on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
We’ll also have telescope images from our partners around the globe:
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Matt Woods at Perth Observatory in Australia
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Khadijah Ahmad and her colleagues at the Dubai Astronomy Group in the UAE
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David Spyra and the team at Kassel Observatory in Germany
(Needless to say, things always depend on the weather!)
Follow the eclipse LIVEWhy Does the Moon Turn Red?
Imagine an astronaut standing on the nearside of the Moon during a total lunar eclipse. They would see Earth completely blocking the Sun, with the dark nighttime side of Earth facing toward them.
However, around the edge of Earth, the astronaut would see Earth’s atmosphere lit up by the Sun like a reddish halo. This circle of the light is the dividing line between the dark nighttime side of Earth and the bright daytime side—it’s where every sunrise and sunset on Earth is happening at that particular moment.
The reddish glow of Earth’s atmosphere is what gives the Moon its blood-colored tint during totality.
What About the Blue?
But red is not the only color we can see during a total lunar eclipse. Occasionally—although it’s often difficult or impossible to catch—we can glimpse a band of blue-ish light.
Sometimes referred to as the turquoise band, this blue color comes from sunlight passing through the ozone layer in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
The best time to spot the blue band tends to be before or after totality, where the edge of Earth’s dark reddish umbral shadow meets the thin silvery crescent of the bright part of the Moon.
A Great Example from Chile
Our friend and live stream partner Thomas Puzia, from the Institute of Astrophysics at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), treated us to a wonderful example of the blue band during the total lunar eclipse of March 13–14, 2025.
Thomas and his team were at UC’s Foster Observatory , overlooking the city of Santiago. They observed a blue-purple band both before and after totality. Thomas took the photo at the top of this page; you can also see the pictures from Santiago by clicking on the video below.
“This phenomenon depends on the health of our atmosphere,” notes Thomas. “Without ozone, there would be no blue-purple colour during the eclipse!”