What to know
- A total lunar eclipse will be visible in Toronto early in the morning on Tuesday, March 3.
- Space communicator Andrew Fazekas, says a total lunar eclipse is when the moon enters Earth’s inner shadow and turns a red or orange colour due to sunlight being blocked.
- He says Torontonians to be outside with a clear view of the westward horizon at 4:50 a.m.
For Toronto’s night owls and early risers, a total lunar eclipse, resulting in a blood moon, will be visible Tuesday morning.
The city’s residents could catch a glimpse of the total lunar eclipse at 6:33 a.m. on March 3. The next one visible across multiple locations in Canada won’t be until June 26, 2029.
A total lunar eclipse is a phenomenon where the moon enters Earth’s inner shadow and turns a red or orange colour as a result of the Earth blocking sunlight from reaching the moon.
Unlike a solar eclipse, which usually only lasts a few minutes, a lunar eclipse progresses over the course of several hours with different moon phases.
Andrew Fazekas, a space communicator and author of Backyard Guide To The Night Sky, says for an observer, the lunar eclipse looks like a cookie with a bite taken out of it.
“At one point, the moon — because it does orbit the earth — will slowly enter into our planet’s shadow. And when it does that, for someone watching it happen over many minutes, it starts looking like the moon is a cookie with a bite taken out of it,” Fazekas explains. “In this case, the cookie is the silvery round moon and that little bite is the shadow of planet Earth.”
He advises Torontonians to be outside with a clear view of the westward horizon at 4:50 a.m., as that’s when the partial eclipse begins. He says to make sure there aren’t any apartment buildings or other obstructions in the way, as that could partially or entirely obscure the moon.
Before 4:50 a.m., the moon will look completely round, silvery, bright — a normal full moon. But it’s at 4:50 a.m. when the first little bite appears on the edge of that moon disk. Then, it’ll grow bigger, and by 6:04 a.m., the moon will totally be eclipsed by the Earth’s shadow, and it starts being orangey red in colour,” Fazekas points out.“
“The greatest eclipse will be at 6:33 a.m. That’s when the moon will be very low in the west, and it will be at the deepest part of Earth’s shadow, meaning that it’s at its maximum eclipse. We call that the maximum totality.”
At 6:52 a.m., the moon will set and the eclipse will no longer be visible from Toronto at that point.
The entire eclipse won’t be visible in every province. Western Canadians will be able to see the entire eclipse while those living in the Atlantic and Prairie provinces will only partially see it.
