The second of the year’s four total lunar eclipses—creating what is often called a “blood moon”—will occur just before sunrise Wednesday, Oct. 8.
The eclipse is the Northern Hemisphere’s hunter’s moon—the name for the full moon after the harvest moon, says EarthSky.org, and the show is often phenomenal.
When to Watch
Early risers can catch the lunar eclipse as it begins around 4:17 a.m. in the Boston area; the maximum eclipse should take place at 6:47 a.m. ET.
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Local Forecast
Boston-area viewers may have a tough time catching the eclipse. Early forecasts from the National Weather Service call for mostly cloudy skies in the region Tuesday overnight into Wednesday morning with patchy fog.
Why the Eerie Name?
According to EarthSky, a full moon almost always takes on a copper hue during a total lunar eclipse, caused by light dispersion from the Earth’s sunrises and sunsets.
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“Thus the term blood moon can be and probably is applied to any and all total lunar eclipses,” EarthSky reports.
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