A blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse, where the Sun, Earth, and Moon align perfectly, with Earth positioned directly in the middle. During this alignment, Earth blocks direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. Instead of turning completely dark, the Moon is indirectly lit by sunlight that has passed through Earth's atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere scatters the blue light from the Sun more than the red light - the same reason sunsets and sunrises appear red. The remaining longer, reddish wavelengths of light are bent (or refracted) toward the Moon, casting a deep red or orange glow onto its surface.

While a blood moon is a predictable event, its appearance has been interpreted in some ancient cultures as an ominous sign, a harbinger of famine or disease. Even in 2014–2015, a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses was linked by some religious groups to end of time prophecies found in the Bible (Revelation) In 1504, Christopher Columbus famously used his knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse to intimidate indigenous people into providing his crew with food.

September 7–8, 2025: A total lunar eclipse will be visible over Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. It will last about 82 minutes. North and South America will not be in the line of sight for this event so pack your suitcases and head out way east if you want to see it (or west).

None

Not Interested

Looking at a full Moon, it looks pretty big and nearby yet you could fit every planet in the Solar System between Earth and the Moon. That even includes Jupiter and Saturn. The Moon is so far from Earth that they could all fit in the distance between us and our natural satellite.

The Moon is an average distance of of 384,400km (238,855 miles) from Earth. We say 'average' because the Moon's orbit around Earth isn't a perfect circle, so sometimes it's closer to Earth than at other times. The Moon is constantly moving away from Earth by about an inch (3.8 cm) per year and will eventually escape Earth's orbit in the distant future.

The moon has no substantial atmosphere and, therefore, no air. However, the Apollo 11 astronauts were surprised to discover that the moon has a smell, which clung to their spacesuits, equipment and the samples they collected. It was described as metallic, similar to burnt gunpowder or the smell in the air after a firecracker goes off.

None

Not Interested

The moon's gravity is the main cause of the tides on Earth. Its pull causes two bulges in Earth's oceans that represent high tides: one in the part of the ocean on the side closest to the moon, and one on the opposite side. The area of high tide opposite the moon is caused by the moon pulling the planet and not the ocean toward it. Between these two bulges of high tide are areas of low tide.