The countdown for the year's first (and only) total lunar eclipse begins. The celestial event, which will see the moon change to rusty red hues, will occur in the U.S. on the night of March 13-14.

Sometimes sleep takes priority over cool celestial events. Luckily, you can catch a partial solar eclipse this month and a blood moon again in 2026.

Its primary objective following the March 2 touchdown inside Mare Crisium crater was to deliver 10 NASA instruments designed to gather lunar subsurface data. But the eastern edge of the moon’s near east side also provided a perfect spot for viewing a solar eclipse from the moon’s point of view.

Firefly's Blue Ghost witnessed Earth blocking out the Sun from its point of view on the Moon, while we experienced a lunar eclipse on Earth.

The total lunar eclipse on March 13-14 will plunge moon missions into darkness. What will happen to the lunar spacecraft?

When sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, blue light scatters more easily while red light travels more directly through the air. During a lunar eclipse, some of the sunlight passes all the way through the Earth's atmosphere and reaches the moon's surface, giving it a subtle glow.