Bay of Plenty residents who missed out on the last lunar eclipse due to cloudy skies will be hoping forecast rain will not spoil their viewing of another gracing our skies tonight.
The lunar eclipse is expected to turn the full moon a bronze-red colour for nearly an hour from 9.15pm - about two hours after the moon rises.
The eclipse is the last that will be seen from New Zealand until 2018.
All stages of the eclipse will be visible from New Zealand, if Bay skies manage to keep clear of afternoon cloud which Metservice has forecast to bring rain this evening.
The total phase of the eclipse will be just under an hour long, from 11:25 pm to 12:24 am.
Tips for viewing the eclipse included going out earlier to get your eyes used to the dark, finding an unobstructed spot before the eclipse begins and using binoculars or a telescope.
The eclipse gets its reddish-orange colour from sunlight sneaking around the edge of the earth's atmosphere, reaching the moon and reflecting back to earth.
Next year there will be two lunar eclipses over New Zealand, in April and September, though neither will be total eclipses and in September it will occur during the day and won't be able to be viewed.
Q & A
What is a lunar eclipse?
Nicknamed the "blood moon", a lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly behind the Earth into its shadow, or umbra. It occurs only when the sun, Earth and moon are closely aligned with the Earth in the middle, and only during a full moon. A lunar eclipse occurs as Earth's shadow from the sun stretches out more than 1 million km and the moon is less than 400,000km away.
What types of lunar eclipses are there?
It can take three forms: a penumbral eclipse is when the moon passes through the Earth's penumbral shadow, which is hard to see. A partial eclipse occurs when part of the moon passes through the Earth's umbral shadow. In a total eclipse the whole moon passes through the Earth's umbral shadow.
Why is the moon red?
The moon does not go completely dark as it passes through the umbra because of the refraction of sunlight by Earth's atmosphere. The red colour arises as sunlight reaching the moon must pass through the atmosphere where it's scattered, as with sunsets and sunrises.
What is the difference between a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse?
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon casts its shadow on the Earth as the moon passes between the sun and Earth. It can be seen from only a small area of the world, whereas a lunar eclipse can be seen anywhere on the night side of the earth.
How often does a lunar eclipse happen?
A total lunar eclipse is rare - New Zealand's next one will be in January 2018.
- with NZME.