Categories: Lifestyle

Here’s when you can spot the Blood Moon over Calgary this week

Image via Shutterstock Onkamon

The weather may be a little temperamental lately, but there are some pretty interesting celestial events to look forward to! A total lunar eclipse will be visible across Canada this week and it will cast a haunting Blood Moon over Calgary.

As explained by In-The-Sky.org, a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the moon and the sun. This obscures the sun’s light and casts a shadow onto the moon’s surface. EarthSky adds that this phenomenon can turn the moon a deep shade of red, hence the name: Blood Moon.

What is a Blood Moon?

A Blood Moon occurs when a full moon coincides with a lunar eclipse. But what causes the moon to appear red?

NASA explains that this has to do with wavelengths, and how different colours of light have different physical properties. Blue light scatters easily as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. Reddish light, inversely, travels more directly through the air.

“During a lunar eclipse, the Moon appears red or orange because any sunlight that’s not blocked by our planet is filtered through a thick slice of Earth’s atmosphere on its way to the lunar surface. It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.”

Pretty neat, huh?

When is the total lunar eclipse?

It’s happening this week, so get ready! According to the EarthSky forecast, a total lunar eclipse will be visible from Earth’s Western Hemisphere overnight on Thursday, March 13, 2025, into the early hours of Friday, March 14, 2025.

As you can see from this map by NASA, the upcoming lunar eclipse should be fully visible from everywhere in Canada.

Image via science.nasa.gov

In-The-Sky.org states, “the moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow between 23:09 and 02:47 MDT, creating a total lunar eclipse” on Thursday night.

Here’s the full timeline for Calgary in local time:

11:10 p.m. – Moon begins to enter the Earth’s shadow. Partial eclipse begins.
12:26 a.m. – Moon fully within Earth’s shadow. Total eclipse begins.
12:59 a.m. – Midpoint of eclipse
1:31 a.m. – Moon begins to leave the Earth’s shadow. Total eclipse ends.
2:48 a.m. – Moon fully outside the Earth’s shadow. Partial eclipse ends.

To the naked eye, this will cause the moon to subtly dim in brightness at the start of the partial eclipse until Earth’s shadow sweeps across the face of the moon.

How to view the total lunar eclipse

The good news is, you don’t need any special equipment to observe the total lunar eclipse!

Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are entirely safe to look at without any kind of filter. An ordinary pair of binoculars will give you a closer look, as well as a telescope if you have one, but neither is required.

What we do need, however, is a clear sky which might be tricky as the weather forecast in Calgary is a mix of snow and clouds that evening.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a break in the clouds, Calgary! Enjoy the Blood Moon.