Australia's last chance to see a lunar eclipse until 2018
Stargazers are in for a treat with a total lunar eclipse set to light up our skies on Saturday night.
Also known as a blood moon, a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, moon and earth form a perfect straight line, with earth in the middle.
It usually turns the moon a dark red colour.
"When all of the moon is covered you just get a little bit of sunlight that's refracted through the earth's atmosphere and that gets bounced into the shadow and that makes the moon very red so when the lunar eclipse is total it'll be a very dark red moon," Astronomer Tom List told Newstalk.
Lunar Eclipse: Brenan Dew and Willy Stevens prepare us for tomorrow's event! https://t.co/u0PpJyVHh6 via @YouTube
— Sydney Observatory (@sydneyobs) April 3, 2015
According to List, as well as being treated to the usual beauty of the natural wonder, the lunar eclipse tonight is going to be extra special.
"This will be quite a good lunar eclipse. It's a total one, so the whole of the moon is in the earth's core shadow and it'll be the last one like that for a while so if we do get a good viewing it'll be quite a good view."
The eclipse will occur between 10.58pm and 11.03pm (AEST) and will last just under five minutes.
It’s expected to be the shortest since the 1500s.
The next total lunar eclipse visible from Australia is not expected until January 31, 2018.
WHEN TO WATCH (all times AEDT)
9.16pm - start of the partial eclipse
10.58pm - totality begins
11.00pm - greatest/maximum eclipse
11.03pm - totality ends
12.44am - end of partial eclipse
News break – April 4
