Tonight, the Total Lunar Eclipse will be visible in Hamilton. A lunar eclipse, when the Earth casts a shadow on the moon, is quite a rare event and Totality will not be visible in Hamilton again until May 2022. The moon turns a red colour once the Earth fully blocks the sun. Similar to the ring we see during an annular solar eclipse, the moon sees a bright red ring around the Earth. This ring is red due to the contents of our atmosphere. Volcanic activity is also capable of influencing the appearance of the moon during an eclipse and can make it significantly darker.

For more information and a live animation of tonight’s total lunar eclipse, visit this link.