WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A total lunar eclipse will redden the Moon in the early morning hours of Tuesday across several time zones.
A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth passes directly between the Sun and Moon, casting a gigantic shadow across the lunar surface and turning the Moon a deep reddish-orange. This alignment can only occur during a full Moon phase.
On Tuesday, totality will be visible in the evening from eastern Asia and Australia, throughout the night in the Pacific, and in the early morning in North and Central America and far western South America. The eclipse is partial in central Asia and much of South America. No eclipse is visible in Africa or Europe.
Totality begins at 6:04 a.m. ET, when the entire Moon is in the Earth's umbra and is tinted a coppery red.
The total eclipse ends at 7:03 a.m. ET. As the Moon exits Earth's umbra, the red color fades. It looks as if a bite is being taken out of the opposite side of the lunar disk from before.
During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon appears dark red or orange. This is because our planet blocks most of the Sun's light from reaching the Moon, and the light that does reach the lunar surface is filtered through a thick slice of Earth's atmosphere. It's as if all of the world's sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.
As Earth's shadow dims the lunar surface, constellations may be easier to spot than they usually are during a full Moon. At the time of the eclipse, the Moon will be in the constellation Leo, under the lion's hind paws.
NASA said that a 'conjunction' of Venus and Saturn is set to take place a few days later. From human perspective on Earth, these two planets will appear close to each other in the sky on Sunday, though they'll still be very distant from each other in space.
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