Expect a blood moon on Wednesday, the second for this year and definitely not the last ever -- at least when you consider the fact that there will be two more in 2015. This reddish moon will also be bigger than the first one, resembling a super moon but with an orange hue, according to CNN.
"If you live in the western half of the United States, you'll have a front-row seat on a lunar eclipse that will turn the moon a burnt reddish orange for about an hour Wednesday, creating the second blood moon in relatively short succession," the news source announced.
"Viewers on the East Coast of North America should look at the sky around 6:25 a.m. local time. On the West Coast, viewers will start to see the action around 3:25 a.m. local time," Mashable noted. "Some will also be able to see a band of turquoise, likely just before and after the moon is fully eclipsed by the Earth's shadow. This is due to the ozone layer, which absorbs red light as sunlight passes through the Earth's atmosphere."
"For North America and the Hawaiian Islands, the total lunar eclipse happens in the wee hours before sunrise on October 8," EarthSky.org said. "For New Zealand, Australia and eastern Asia, the total eclipse is seen after sunset on October 8. A partial lunar eclipse can be seen before sunrise, October 8, from much of South America, or after sunset, October 8, from western Asia."
The fact that this blood moon happens close to the perigree (the closest distance to the Earth in the moon's orbit) explains the larger-than-normal appearance -- about 5.3% bigger than April's blood moon.
"It will be the second in a sequence of four -- called a tetrad -- that are occurring in roughly six-month intervals. The next one will appear on April 4, 2015, and the last one on September 28, 2015," CNN further explained.
According to Space.com, NASA and the Slooh Community Observatory will be airing webcasts of the total lunar eclipse as viewed live in different parts of the world. The NASA stream will begin at 3 a.m. EDT, while the Slooh webcast will begin 5 a.m. EDT.
Meanwhile, Business Insider has called the october 8 lunar eclipse as one of the rarest of its kind. It's also known as a selenelion or horizontal eclipse. The phenomenon lasts between 2-9 minutes.
"During a brief window, in this case between two and nine minutes, people on the east coast of the country will be able to see the sun rise and moon set at the exact same time," the site said, regarding viewers of the blood moon in the US. "There are plenty of times when both the sun and moon are visible during the day at other times of the year. But during a lunar eclipse the chance to see both the sun and moon simultaneously is extremely rare."
From a geometric point of view, this kind of occurrence shouldn't be possible. With that being said, don't miss Wednesday's lunar eclipse!