In the late hours of September 27 and the early hours of September 28, there will be a total eclipse of the Moon. Such an eclipse occurs when the Moon moves directly into the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra.

You don’t need any special equipment to enjoy a lunar eclipse – just your own eyes will do. If you have some binoculars, then get them out to check out the Moon’s surface features under some of the different lighting conditions.

The image below shows the general stages of the eclipse and there’s also an animation of the Moon’s appearance from Charlottetown. You won’t really notice much happening with the Moon until the partial eclipse starts at 10:07 pm ADT. Then it will appear like a larger and larger bite is being taken out of the Moon. The Moon’s colour will shift to red by the time the total eclipse begins at 11:11 pm ADT. This stage is sometimes referred to as a “blood moon” due to the red colour.

Times for the different stages of the total lunar eclipse (note times are in EDT so add on one hour for ADT)

The total eclipse phase lasts until 12:23 am ADT, over an hour after it started. So that leaves plenty of time to have a look at the red Moon and take some photos.

There won’t be another total lunar eclipse visible from Charlottetown until 2019, so if the weather permits, it’s worth making a point of seeing this one.