LIVE: Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse Begins At 6:16 a.m. Today
By Space Coast Daily // April 4, 2015
total eclipse will last only five minutes
LIVE STREAM: On Saturday morning, not long before sunrise, the bright full moon over North America should turn a lovely shade of celestial red during a total lunar eclipse. Tune in to SpaceCoastDaily.com starting at 6 a.m. to see the eclipse live.
NASA — On April 4, not long before sunrise, the bright full moon over North America should turn a lovely shade of celestial red during a total lunar eclipse, which will last only five minutes.
Here’s the schedule:
| Lunar Eclipse, April 4, 2015 | Eastern Daylight Time, *a.m.) | Universal Time |
| Partial eclipse begins | 6:16 EDT | 10:15:45 UT |
| Totality begins | 7:58 EDT | 11:57:54 UT |
| Greatest eclipse | 8:00 EDT | 12:00:15 UT |
| Totality ends | 8:03 EDT | 12:02:37 UT |
| Partial eclipse ends | 9:45 EDT | 13:44:46 UT |
| Moonset | 6:53 EDT for Wash., D.C. 6:34 CDT for HSV, AL 7:13 for Houston 6:15 MST for Tucson 6:44 PDT for Los Angeles |
A world map of eclipse visibility is available HERE.
This eclipse marks the third in a series of four lunar eclipses in a row, known as a “tetrad.”
The first in the series occurred on April 15, 2014, with the second in the tetrad of eclipses in September of 2014, and the final will be September 28.
For a total lunar eclipse to happen, the Moon must be full, which means it is directly opposite the Sun, with Earth in between.
The eclipse happens when the Moon moves into the shadow cast by the Sun shining on Earth.
We don’t have an eclipse every month because sometimes the Moon is above the shadow, sometimes below.
During the eclipse, the Moon often looks reddish because sunlight has passed through Earth’s atmosphere, which filters out most of its blue light.
This eerie, harmless effect has earned the tongue-in-cheek nickname “blood moon.”
