'Blood Moon' Lunar Eclipse To Make An Appearance October 8 (LIVESTREAM)

The second lunar eclipse, or "blood moon," will make an appearance on Oct. 8.

The epic moon will appear to be 5.3 percent larger than the eclipse that occurred on April 15, NASA reported. The eclipse will be one in a series of four consecutive events, the following one will occur in six months' time.

The event will be visible from the Pacific Ocean and regions immediately bordering it, including the one-third of North America, as well as some of Canada, South American, Australia, Asia, and all of New Zealand. The blood moon will not be visible from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

On the East Coast of the U.S. the moon will begin at 6:25 a.m, EDT and will be visible from 3:25 a.m. to 4:24 a.m. PDT for West Coasters.

"It promises to be a stunning sight, even from the most light polluted cities," said NASA's longtime eclipse expert Fred Espenak. "I encourage everyone, especially families with curious children, to go out and enjoy the event."

During a lunar eclipse the moon passes inside the shadow of Earth, casting a coppery shadow on the lunar surface. The light is caused sunrises and sunsets across the globe, which transforms the moon into a "great red orb."

Those who take a very close look at Wednesday's lunar event may also detect hints of blue.The source of the "band of turquoise" is ozone.

"During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the moon passes through the stratosphere where it is reddened by scattering. However, light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer," Richard Keen of the University of Colorado said, NASA reported.

To catch this turquoise band onlookers are advised to look closely during the first and last minutes of the event's totality using binoculars or a small telescope.

The brilliance of the moon's colors depend on how dusty the stratosphere. When volcanoes erupt they release aerosols into the atmosphere, turning lunar eclipses an extremely deep red that can almost appear to be black. That does not seem to be the case this time.

"Despite some recent eruptions that look spectacular from the ground, there have been no large injections of volcanic gases into the stratosphere," Keen said. "In the absence of volcanic effects, I expect a rather normal reddish-orange lunar eclipse similar in appearance to last April's eclipse."

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Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse, Nasa
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