Record-Breaking Over 7 Billion People Will See "Blood Moon" Total Lunar Eclipse In September

There is a great total lunar eclipse coming up in a few weeks, and it will be enjoyed by the vast majority of people on the planet from Oceania to Brazil! The event will happen, depending on your time zone, during the evening between September 7 and 8, and from partiality to the total spectacle of the so-called "blood Moon" and then back to partiality, it will take 3 hours, 29 minutes, and 24 seconds.

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If you want to see the whole spectacle from start to finish (including the dimming of the penumbral phase) you have plenty of places to pick from. Most of Asia, a sliver of East Africa, and Western Australia will get the full show. The rest of Africa, Australia, much of Europe, and the east coast of Brazil will get at least part of the totality and the partiality.

This tells us that 60 percent of the world's population will be able to see the whole show, and up to 87 percent of it will get at least part of the event – as always, weather permitting. Before our pals in the Americas call foul, we want to remind them that this is the second lunar eclipse happening in 2025, and the first one, which took place in March, was pretty much an American exclusive. It’s important not to hog these cosmic events!

The orbit of the Moon is slightly slanted with respect to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. If the two were the same, we would get a lunar and solar eclipse every month. Instead, they tend to happen more rarely, every six months or so (but certain years are better) when the Moon is at a node.

A node means that the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon are aligned or in syzygy. A total lunar eclipse occurs at full moon when the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon line up, so the Moon passes completely within the shadow. There are partial lunar eclipses, where the Moon doesn’t fully enter the shadow, and penumbral eclipses when the Moon only crosses the half-shadow.

The total lunar eclipse is also known as the blood Moon because, once in the shadow of the Earth, it turns red. The reason for this is that sunlight filters through the atmosphere of the Earth, and so our planet's shadow has a bit of a crimson hue, coloring the Moon when no direct sunlight is reaching it.

One thing that the March eclipse had that's not happening here is a mission on the Moon to take a picture. Back then, Blue Ghost was operational and captured the incredible view. 

You can check Time&Date.com for precise timings to see the eclipse at your location.