Our Moon is about to put on a show: its first total lunar eclipse of the year, and this time it will be a “blood moon.”
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth blocks the sun, casting a shadow on the moon. While that should cast the large, 4.53 billion-year-old gray orb into darkness, the Moon may appear red. According to NASA, some of the sunlight filters through Earth’s atmosphere and casts an orange-hued light on the Moon. Depending on how intense the orange is, some people think it looks almost red.
This event starts on March 3, 2026, which means it’s only a few hours away. It can be seen in North America, Central America, Asia and Australia. In the US, we should start seeing the lunar eclipse around 3 a.m. ET. It may be complete by 6 a.m. ET. Aissdia and Australia will see it early in the afternoon on the 3rd.
Depending on the weather, you may be able to see the lunar eclipse with the naked eye. However, cloud cover (expected in the northeastern US) means you may not be able to see the Blood Moon.
In that case, there is at least one YouTube live stream that you can bookmark and use to see when the lunar event begins.
Look
See it, capture it
If you plan to photograph Blood Moon with your best smartphone, try using your phone’s top optical zoom, say 8x on the iPhone 17 Pro Max and 10x on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
We do not recommend using any zoom beyond the phone’s optical capabilities, as image processing could introduce AI artifacts that, while they make the photo look good, will not necessarily be photographs of this lunar eclipse. Instead, they will be the AI’s interpretation of the event.
If you can take a photo with ground objects in the foreground, such as people, buildings, trees, and landmarks, you’ll give the image more context. Also, if you have a digital SLR with a long lens, use it. The photo above was captured with a Sony Alpha A6000 with a 200mm lens.
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