Blue Moon Lunar Eclipse when to watch in Australia

Whether you call it a supermoon, blood moon or Super Blood Blue Moon, Wednesday’s total lunar eclipse is going to be spectacular. Earthlings haven’t seen a celestial event like this in nearly 150 Years – and Australians have one of the best seats in the world! Here’s what you need to know for an optimum viewing experience in each state and territory.

What the hell is a blue moon?

Wednesday’s blue moon isn’t actually blue – so don’t loudly complain about the colour to fellow stargazers or you’ll look like a total berk. Blue moons are an “extra” 13th full moon that occur every two to three years on average.

Why should you be excited about this one?

The reason people are psyched for this year’s blue moon is that it happens to coincide with a total lunar eclipse. The last time this happened was all the way back in March 31, 1866. Not a single living human being has ever seen one of these eclipses before – exciting stuff!

Unlike last year’s total solar eclipse, the super blood blue moon is best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere, with Australia, New Zealand and eastern Asia being in prime position. (Most of North and South America will only catch the tail end of the eclipse. Tough break, guys.)

“Unlike most of the world, we will be able to see the eclipse from beginning to end,” says astrobiologist Charley Lineweaver, an Australian National University Associate Professor. “Another perk of this celestial show is that the earth’s shadow will not pass over any old full Moon, rather, it will pass over a super Moon — it will be closer and brighter than usual.”

In fact, you could say an event like this only comes around once in a lifetime.

When To Watch The Super Blood Blue Moon In Australia

Wednesday’s total lunar eclipse occurs at different times depending on your location within Australia. (A lunar eclipse occurs at the same moment for every location on Earth, so the differences in time depend only on the local timezone.)

For most Australians, the eclipse will occur a few hours after sunset, so there’s no need to get up at an ungodly hour – hurrah! With that said, some Aussies will need to stay up past 2am if they want to watch the whole thing. Western Australians get to head outside a little earlier, with the eclipse set to start at 7:48pm.

Here are the times you need to mark in your calendar for each state and territory:

What is a super red blue Moon?

What is a super red blue Moon? ANU Astrophyicist Brad Tucker explains the upcoming super red blue moon.