September 27-28 is the date. In the Americas it will start on the evening of the 27th, but in Europe and beyond, it will be the wee hours of the 28th.

It looks to be a good one - weather permitting, of course - with totality lasting over an hour.

What's happening in a lunar eclipse? Read all about it.

The upcoming eclipse is the final eclipse of a lunar tetrad. A tetrad is a group of four, and in 2014-15 there have been two pairs of total lunar eclipses.

You can find out more in my article
Blood Moons and Lunar Tetrads.
A tetrad of Blood Moons sounds very dramatic. It could even be the title of a fantasy novel. But what is a “Blood Moon”? What is a lunar tetrad? And is it as apocalyptic as it sounds? Have a look.

A special feature of this month's eclipse is that it will happen when the Moon is at lunar perigee. The Moon's orbit isn't quite circular, so sometimes it's closer to us than it is at other times. It's closest at perigee and farthest away at apogee. But usually its apparent size is somewhere between the two - and when there's nothing to compare it to, the apparent size difference isn't really apparent to the eye.

Still it's a little enhancement for eclipse watchers. You can enjoy an eclipse without any equipment, but if you have binoculars, the view is pretty cool.

In order to find out whether you can see the eclipse - and how much of it - here is a map. The whole eclipse will be visible - weather permitting - from South America, eastern North America and western Europe. But that doesn't mean it will happen at a sociable hour in your part of the world. The times given are UTC, which is Greenwich Mean Time. That means the greatest eclipse in Britain is about four in the morning. Ugh! The timing is better in the Americas where many people will be able to see it on the night of the 27th.

The lunar and solar eclipses are marked on my calendar!

A lunar eclipse is usually associated with a solar eclipse. The next lunar eclipse is at the full Moon in just over two weeks, and at the new Moon in a few days there's a partial solar eclipse. It'll have a small audience, with the best view to be had in Antarctica. However southern Africa - weather permitting - will also have a view. Are you on this map?

As you get farther north, the eclipsed part of the Sun will get smaller. Most people who are in areas where you could see the eclipse won't even notice the sky darkening. But this means it's very important NOT to look at the Sun without eclipse glasses or a piece of #14 welder’s glass. But you can project the eclipse with a pinhole in a piece of card or various other things with holes in them.

Thank you for all of that information Mona. I remember making the paper/card with the pinhole at school many many years ago. We couldn't get the special glasses where we lived.

Light coming through gaps between leaves can have the same effect as a pinhole - except there are multiple images. Here is one of my favorites from Space.Com a few years ago. The Sun's image is multiplied on the fence . . . and on something else!

Apparently, a colandar can give a nice effect too, though I've never tried it.

A partial solar eclipse occurred yesterday morning in Antarctica and southern Africa. But there was a double eclipse from Earth orbit – NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded it. At 6.30 UT, Earth passed between the Sun and SDO, producing a near black-out as Earth moved across the face of the Sun. About an hour later the Moon was in the way, producing the second eclipse.

Here are two pictures from the SDO. The edge of the Earth is fuzzier than that of the Moon because of our atmosphere.

How fascinating Mona!

For anybody who hasn't marked it on their calendar, a reminder that at this time next week you're not far off what could be a fantastic lunar eclipse. The Harvest Moon will be at lunar perigee, i.e., its closest to Earth, so given a clear sky, it should be quite a sight. It's also a long totality so you'll have a good chance of seeing it.

The color is unpredictable. If Earth blocked all the sunlight, of course we wouldn't see the Moon at all. However some light gets to the Moon through our atmosphere, and that light is reddish. This is why the Moon may look red or brown. However the exact color also depends on the state of the atmosphere in terms of dust and chemical pollutants.

Fred Espenak photographed a total lunar eclipse in December 1982. It was a very dark eclipse because of dust from the Mexican volcano El Chichon. The dust in the upper atmosphere blocked most of the sunlight.

Remember the lunar eclipse Sunday night (or early Monday morning in Europe). Space.com thinks if you're watching with friends or having an eclipse party that you might want some eclipse-themed cocktails.

Here's a video showing how to make them. They look yummy, but I will not be indulging. Totality will be between about 3-4 a.m. in my time zone. And that is not the Happy Hour in my view.

If you're not sure if and when tonight's lunar eclipse is visible - weather permitting! - in your city, Time and Date will tell you. You can look up your nearest city.

Thanks for that Mona!

Lovely lunar eclipse early this morning. It coincided - appropriately - with the Chinese Moon Festival. What a treat for those celebrating it who were also able to see the eclipse.

It was darker than I expected, but an atmospheric scientist says it was normal for it to be darker. This is because the Moon was at perigee (closest to us in its orbit), so it was deeper into the Earth's shadow.

The night was mild and clear here. I was surprised to see Orion. But then I'm not usually up at 4.00 a.m. Sirius was so bright and twinkly, it was probably upping the number of UFO reports.

Great GIF animation of the lunar eclipse by Joel Arnold. Takes you from the uneclipsed Moon to the total eclipse and back again as the Moon comes out of Earth's shadow. All condensed to several seconds. Whew!

Here is a composite image showing the whole lunar eclipse, as taken by Mike Mezeul. It's a superb piece of work, setting the eclipse against a city skyline, with the change in the Moon's color is very effectively shown.

I thought it was about time I changed the name of this thread! Yes the "blood moon", the fourth of the tetrad, has now passed. And the world still seems to be here despite the warnings of doom. Rather like the nothing that happened on the 2012 winter solstice. (Does anyone even remember all the dire internet warnings during 2012?)

There isn't another total lunar eclipse now until January 2018. But I'm still coming across some really great pictures of this one, which I'll share with you when I find the links.

Those are some great pictures Mona.

Ya, so how many "end of the world" prophecies have we survived now? I'm counting four (that's going back to New Year's Eve 1999).

I love eclipses - in fact, I just love any astronomical event. It reminds me of how small we are, yet we are still a part of this Universe. There is a rhythm to it all.

I seem to miss the majority of the eclipses. And I told my son something similar ... I'm 46 years old and the world was supposed to have ended at least 30 times so far in my lifetime ... and we're *still* here! lol

It's sheer pandemonium!

Alice, I miss a lot of eclipses too, simply because I just go to be so early!! I have a hard time staying up past 9pm LOL!!! So this last one was timed pretty good for me - though for you it would have been three hours later - I would not have been able to stay up for it if I'd been on the east coast

Yes, Alice and Deanna, I've lost track of the end-of-the-world things. The internet seems to encourage it, because anybody can pick up any bit of nonsense and pass it on. I do remember on the day of one well-publicized doomsday, it was a beautiful day here, and a friend and I were sipping wine by the riverside, watching the boats and waterfowl come and go. I proclaimed it the Best End of the World yet. And I don't think we've had any so good since then either.

A lovely picture of the total lunar eclipse on September 27. The perigee Moon has been captured by Aubrey Gemignani along with the Washington Monument. Nice one.

This is a first! French astrophotographer Thierry Legault is the stuff of legends, and here's yet another reason why. He photographed the International Space Station transiting the Moon during the recent lunar eclipse. Here is a montage of images taken during the eclipse as seen from Rambouillet, France. The ISS took 1.7 seconds to pass in front of the Moon.

Here's the partially eclipsed Moon rising above Joshua Tree, California. Dramatic and beautiful. (Image credit: Pauline Acalin)

Well, we were just comparing end-of-the-world notes and lo and behold! I've just got another one on FB today. But today's the day, so not much warning on this one. Though it hasn't happened so far and I'd already gone for a flu shot before I went online.

It's no longer October 7 anywhere on Earth, but it does seem that we're still here. Something to be grateful for!

GREAT! I can still go to the beach this weekend! LOL

And I can go to Norway.

Have a good weekend, Allyson.

I can keep writing my novel.

Allyson and Mona - Great times to you both!

Have a great trip Mona - when do you leave?

I've left. In fact, I've arrived and am writing this from the Hurtigruten ship Midnatsol in Bergen. We'll be leaving about eight this evening headed north.

Have a wonderful time Mona!

I came across this cartoon by Glenn & Gary McCoy. I know the thread is about total eclipses, but this gave me such a laugh I had to share it.

I loved the cartoon Mona!

Most Excellent Cartoon!

Mona, that was pretty cute!!

This is a total lunar eclipse, though not the most recent one. The picture is interesting because it stresses an unusual scientific side to such an eclipse. The green light beam is a laser being used to measure the Earth-Moon distance. The laser's target is a retroreflector left on the Moon by Apollo 15 astronauts. Timing the return of the laser pulse allows a highly accurate determination of the distance traveled. Performance is improved during the eclipse because direct sunlight is blocked. (Credit & copyright: Dan Long)

Mona, that's pretty cool!

A haiku from Romania celebrating the lunar eclipse and accompanying sky objects. This is from the astropoetry blog of Astronomers without Borders (AWB).