A total lunar eclipse will be visible from most of Australia next week on the night of Tuesday, March 3, with eastern Australia in the best position to witness the 'blood moon’ in its entirety.

What is a total lunar eclipse?

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the entire Moon passes through Earth’s shadow, causing the face of the Moon to be shielded from direct sunlight.

The Moon does not become invisible during a total lunar eclipse, despite being blocked from direct sunlight. Instead, the moon turns red as its Earth-oriented face becomes illuminated by indirect sunlight being refracted towards the Moon’s surface by Earth’s atmosphere.

As sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere, colours with shorter wavelengths (like blue) get scattered and filtered out, while colours with longer wavelengths (like red and orange) pass through Earth’s atmosphere and reflect off the surface of the Moon. This ‘filtering’ of light in the atmosphere is called Rayleigh scattering and it is also what causes sunrises and sunsets to appear orange and red on Earth.

Total lunar eclipses are also referred to as ‘blood moons’ because of their red appearance.

How to see next week’s lunar eclipse?

All cloud-free areas of Australia will be able to witness next week’s lunar eclipse, although the best viewing orientation will be in eastern Australia.

Those in roughly the eastern half of Australia will be able to watch the Moon getting darker as it gradually enters the darkest part of Earth’s shadow (called the umbra). The Moon will then turn red once it fully enters the umbra and becomes completely shielded from direct sunlight.

People viewing from Australia’s west will miss the first part of the eclipse where the Earth’s shadow gradually darkens the Moon. However, they will still be able to see the total eclipse close to the eastern horizon shortly after sunset.

Image: Total lunar eclipse times for the night of Tuesday, March 3, 2026. These are the start and end times for the total eclipse only and do not include the partial eclipse, which extends roughly one hour before and after the total eclipse. Source: Weatherzone.

As is the case with all celestial events, next week’s lunar eclipse will only be visible from areas with clear sky. Unfortunately, there is likely to be cloud cover over parts of northern, central and southeastern Australia on the night of the lunar eclipse.

You can find the moon phase and moonrise/moonset times for your location on the Weatherzone app.

Image: Moon calendar on the Weatherzone app. Source: Weatherzone.