The next full moon is Tuesday morning, March 3. This full moon isn’t just a so-called “Worm Moon”—it’s also a total lunar eclipse.

A lunar eclipse happens when the moon is covered entirely by Earth’s shadow, causing it to take on a reddish hue. The sun, Earth and moon will be in a straight line, with Earth passing between the sun and moon. It’s also known as a “Blood Moon.”

Earth’s atmosphere acts like a lens. It scatters the blue, shorter wavelengths of light and refracts the red, longer ones. The longer wavelengths bend toward the moon, causing it to appear red. It’s like taking all of Earth’s sunrises and sunsets and projecting those reddish tones directly onto the lunar surface.

Viewing conditions won’t be ideal for the East Coast. The eclipse will happen right before sunrise and very low on the western horizon. The moon will darken and start turning red just after 6 a.m., but it will set less than a half-hour later while still in eclipse.

Another obstacle for the tri-state area may be the weather. The forecast calls for increasing clouds, so we’ll have to hope for breaks in the sky.

Timeline of the event: