The western side of North America will get the best views on Saturday, April 4 before dawn. Australia and East Asia have to wait for their turn, but only until Saturday evening.
When the sun, Earth and moon form a "tin soldier line" in space, the moon slides into Earth's shadow and creates a total lunar eclipse, according to a press release. The deep shadow of the Earth covers the full lunar disk, which dims to an orange or red. Then, as the line up undoes itself, the events can be witnessed in reverse.
April's lunar eclipse comes just two weeks after the solar eclipse on March 20 at the same time as the new moon and the vernal equinox. April's eclipse is also the third in a line of four lunar eclipses during 2014 and 2015 (all spaced about six months apart). The next lunar eclipse is expected on Sept. 27 for all of the Americas (excluding northwestern Canada and Alaska). "Eclipse tetrads" are not common, according to the press release. The last tetrad occurred about 10 years ago and the next one won't happen again until 2032.
