​Super Blood Wolf Eclipse Will Turn Moon Red Tonight

Space experts are urging us to look to the skies this evening, as tonight's moon will be turning a stunning dark orange.

The European Space Agency also believes a 'good fraction' of the world's population will be able to see the 'Super Blood Wolf Eclipse'.

"This is because a small portion of sunlight is refracted by the Earth's atmosphere and mostly red light reaches the Moon," the agency said.

"It is also why the total lunar eclipse is often called a 'blood moon'."

The occasion will also mark the year's first supermoon - which happens when a full moon is slightly closer to Earth and so appears bigger and brighter.

Luckily, the Met Office says the UK should experience some clear skies for the event.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich will be setting up a live Facebook feed of the event, having told those in the UK they'll be able to see 'every part of the eclipse as long as they are willing to stay up all night!'

According to the observatory, the moon will start to enter the Earth's shadow just after 2.30am GMT, while the maximum eclipse will take place just before 5.15am. Ending at 7.48am, that means the whole thing will last for just over five hours.

Not sure your boss will accept that as an excuse when you rock up late and completely sleep-deprived on Monday morning, sadly.

But Tom Kerss, an astronomer from the Royal Observatory, urged people to try and watch, if they can - adding that it's going to be a 'long time' before you can witness another like it.

"We will have other lunar eclipses, we just won't have anything quite as spectacular until May 2021."

"The moon will be red between about 4.40am and about 6.45am, so it's actually more than an hour that you have to observe this blood moon phenomenon where the moon is totally eclipsed," Kerss added.

Okay, so maybe if you're a bit dubious about the benefits of pulling an all-nighter, you could just set an alarm and stick your head out of the window for a few minutes to catch the maximum eclipse at around 5.12am. At that point, the moon will be completely submerged within the Earth's shadow, so it should be a nice spectacle to start the week.

You never know, you might even feel the urge to get up and get to the gym for a Monday morning sesh before work...

It's okay, I'll definitely end up going back to bed and sleep through my alarm as well.

Topics: Science, Weather, News, UK, Moon

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman