ROCHESTER, N.Y. -Do you know it has been about two and a half years since the last total lunar eclipse?  So, it is an unusual astronomical event that is highly dependent on the precise alignment of the sun, Earth and moon.

In this scenario, the visible light from the sun reaches the Earth, but the Earth blocks most of that light from reaching the moon. As a result, the Earth is casting a shadow on the moon. However, it is not a completely dark shadow. As the Sun’s rays pass through our atmosphere, a portion of the light spectrum is filtered with the red color being least affected. This residual light penetrates to the moon creating a reddish hue, hence the name “blood moon”.

Unfortunately, if you really want to see this event, you may lose some sleep. The partial eclipse begins at 1:09 A.M. Friday morning with the maximum eclipse happening close to around 3 A.M.  Beyond that point, the eclipse slowly fades into the wee hours of the morning. 

The recommendation for viewing is to look towards the south to southwestern sky and if possibly get away from any artificial light.  Meteorologically, the other concern is the amount of cloud cover. Right now, the News10NBC First Alert meteorologists are cautiously optimistic the clouds will be minimal over Western New York.  But you know that viewing any astronomical event can be a challenge – especially this time of the year.