Updated Mar 14, 2025 - Science

In photos: Blood Moon total lunar eclipse lights up sky

Kelly Tyko

Full Blood Moon seen during the total lunar eclipse. During totality, the Moon appears a reddish, orange hue. — The Blood Moon total lunar eclipse is seen above Austin, Texas on Friday, March 14. Photo: Rick Kern/Getty Images

The Blood Moon total lunar eclipse made the Moon appear red briefly early Friday — a rare sight not expected again until March 2026.

Why it matters: It's the only lunar eclipse visible from the U.S. this year and the first total lunar eclipse since November 2022.

Photos captured around the world late Thursday and early Friday showed a bright and illuminating Moon.

Full Moon appears red during a lunar eclipse — The full Blood Worm Moon is seen during a total lunar eclipse on March 14 in Merritt Island, Florida. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

A partial lunar eclipse is seen above the fronds of a palm tree during the Blood Moon lunar eclipse in Palm Springs, California, on March 13. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Full moon with a dark sky — North Rhine-Westphalia, Solingen: The almost fully illuminated Moon shines in the night sky over Solingen, Germany. For places in Central Europe, the moon sets during the eclipse, even before the moon has fully entered the umbra. Photo: Gianni Gattus/picture alliance via Getty Images

What time is the Blood Moon?

The Moon appears red or orange during the lunar eclipse because "any sunlight that's not blocked by our planet is filtered through a thick slice of Earth's atmosphere," NASA said.

"It's as if all the world's sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon," NASA said.

What we're watching: The Moon will appear coppery red during the lunar eclipse's totality phase for a little less than an hour, according to NASA's timeline.

This phase begins at 2:26am EDT Friday, 11:26pm PDT and 6:26 UTC.
Totality ends at 3:31am EDT, which is 12:31am PDT and 7:31 UTC.