RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See last night's 'blood moon' eclipse from around the world
In a near-total lunar eclipse, the moon turned red-orange for viewers in North America, Europe, and Africa
Last night's near-total lunar eclipse did not disappoint. In the second and final lunar eclipse of the year, our natural satellite transformed into a stunning red-orange "blood moon" as almost all of it fell under Earth's shadow.
During a lunar eclipse, the Earth passes between the sun and moon, partially or totally obstructing sunlight to the moon. In this case, more than 96 percent of it was covered by Earth's dark shadow, or umbra, according to NASA, making it a "deep partial eclipse."
The reddish tone comes from the way the Earth's atmosphere filters light—reddish hues slip through to the other side, while other colors are refracted away, much like a sunset.
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Last night's eclipse began around 9:23 P.M. EDT on Thursday and lasted until about 3:02 A.M. EDT on Friday. The height of the eclipse occurred at 12:13 A.M. ET, when the moon was 96.3 percent covered in shadow.
We collected some of the best pictures from around the world:
Want to catch the next eclipse? While 2027 will see three very subtle, or penumbral, lunar eclipses, the next total lunar eclipse won't occur until December 31, 2028. But two solar eclipses—when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun— will take place in 2027: a "ring of fire" annular eclipse on February 6 and a total solar eclipse on August 2.
Jackie Flynn Mogensen is a breaking news reporter at Scientific American . Before joining SciAm, she was a science reporter at Mother Jones, where she received a National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications in 2024. Mogensen holds a master's degree in environmental communication and a bachelor's degree in earth sciences from Stanford University. She is based in New York City.
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