Re-watch the ‘blood moon' total lunar eclipse as it happened in Chicago

If you missed March's total lunar eclipse, also known as the "blood moon," when will you be able to see one next?

Friday's eclipse peaked during the overnight hours flushing the moon red in a stunning sight. (Watch in the player above)

The eclipse began slightly before 11 p.m. CT on Thursday as the moon’s surface slowly started to darken. Just after midnight, a partial eclipse began, with a noticeable “chunk” of the moon’s surface becoming blocked out by the Earth.

The so-called "blood moon," as the moon turned a reddish-orange color, was visible for about an hour starting at 1:26 a.m. CT Friday. Peak viewing happened close to 2 a.m. CT.

The total eclipse ended at approximately 2:31 a.m.

If you missed out, mark your calendar for Sept. 7. Another total lunar eclipse will sweep across parts of Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. Parts of the Americas will get their next taste in March 2026.

What is a total lunar eclipse?

Lunar eclipses happen when the moon, Earth and sun align just so. The Earth casts a shadow that can partially or totally blot out the moon.

In a total eclipse, the moon passes into the “umbra,” the term for the darkest part of Earth’s shadow. Since the Earth isn’t big enough to completely block the light coming from the sun, only a little bit of light gets through, casting an orange or red hue onto the lunar surface, creating what’s known as a “Blood Moon.”

The full moon blushes coppery red as stray bits of sunlight filter through Earth's atmosphere.

During a partial lunar eclipse, Earth's shadow appears to take a bite of the moon.

Lunar and solar eclipses happen anywhere from four to seven times a year, according to NASA. A partial lunar eclipse graced skies in the Americas, Africa and Europe last September and the last total lunar eclipse was in 2022.

History of eclipses

Civilizations have viewed and interpreted lunar eclipses for thousands of years. Ancient people knew more about the celestial bodies than we give them credit for, said historian Zoe Ortiz.

“They were looking at the night sky and they had a much brighter vision than we do today,” said Ortiz with the University of North Texas.

Aristotle noticed that the shadow the Earth cast on the moon during a lunar eclipse was always curved, observations proving that the Earth is round.

And a civilization in ancient Mesopotamia saw the blood red moon as a bad omen for the king. The people installed a substitute king on the throne around the time of the eclipse to protect their ruler from any bad will.

“If there's ever a movie plot,” said Ortiz, “that's the one.”

Why does the moon look orange-red?

While the sun’s light appears to be white, it’s actually made up of a variety of colors, which can either diffuse in Earth’s atmosphere or travel more directly through that atmosphere, depending on each type of light’s wavelengths.

During daylight hours for example, the Earth’s sky appears blue because that is the type of light that diffuses the most in the atmosphere.

Later in the day when the sun’s light isn’t traveling as directly through the atmosphere, the sun tends to take on more of an orange or red color, because those types of light travel more directly and don’t diffuse as much.

The same phenomenon occurs during a lunar eclipse, according to NASA. The light that isn’t blocked by the Earth travels in a more direct path, thus allowing that red or orange light to hit the moon’s surface.

What is a Blood Moon?

According to Adler, the term "blood moon" is an informal way of describing a total lunar eclipse, "but it is not technically an astronomical or scientific term."

"The phrase’s usage has grown in popularity, and these days, blood Moon and lunar eclipse are used interchangeably," the planetarium reported. "People like using the phrase blood Moon because the Moon might appear red or orange during the totality phase of a lunar eclipse."