SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — For the first time in nearly two years the moon will vanish into Earth’s shadow and create a stunning spectacle for sky watchers. A rare total lunar eclipse will take place on Thursday night and trade its bright white color for dark red.
This is called a Blood Moon and it occurs when Earth passes in between the Sun and moon during orbit. When the three precisely align, Earth casts a shadow on the Moon and blocks most sunlight from reaching it.
Any sunlight left is filtered through Earth’s atmosphere, where colors like red and orange are refracted into Earth’s shadow and casted back onto the Moon. You may catch a glimpse of this event if you are willing to stay up late.
The Moon will start to enter the outer part of Earth’s shadow just before 11 P.M. central time. The transformation won’t be visible until just after midnight, when the moon will gradually start to turn red. It will take about a hour and a half to reach total eclipse, which will occur around 1:30 A.M. The moon will be fully red for about a hour, before returning back to its normal color by 4 A.M. on Friday.
Lows will stay very mild but a low pressure system will move in by Friday morning and bring increasing clouds. Partly to mostly cloudy skies are expected and the best chances to see the moon will be to the east as higher level clouds hang around there.
As this blood moon comes and goes, we can already look forward to the next one in March 2026, with hopefully good weather conditions.
