Total lunar eclipse : Monday 8 September 2025

In the early hours of Monday 8 September the Moon will be totally eclipsed by the shadow of the Earth, as illustrated in the diagram below from NASA.

Observers in Sydney will need to rise early and look to the west to see the partial eclipse begin just after 2:27am. Totality will begin at 3:30am and this is a long totality of 1 hour 22 minutes. From 4:52am the Earth's shadow will leave the Moon. The eclipse finishes at 5:56am, just before the Moon sets at 6:11am.

Eclipsed blood Moon with Uranus, 18 November 2022, photo Ann Cairns

This lunar eclipse will be visible right across Australia, and in many areas of the planet. It is perfectly safe to watch a lunar eclipse, you don’t need a telescope but if you binoculars you will enhance the experience.

It is also a great opportunity to take photographs as according to Hon. Professor Nick Lomb, Sydney City Skywatcher member and author of the Australasian Sky Guide, the Moon will look spectacular as it sets.

Lunar eclipses can only occur during a full moon. However, there isn’t a lunar eclipse every full moon of the month because the Moon’s orbit is tipped about five degrees to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The Moon is either below or above the plane of the Earth’s orbit most of the time.

Often called a ‘blood’ moon because of the colour of the Moon during totality, a scale called the Danjon Scale is used to grade the darkness of a total lunar eclipse. It is done in points from 0, where the Moon looks almost invisible, to 4 where a bright yellowish orange colour can be seen. The photograph below was taken just prior to the Moon becoming totally eclipsed and shows the colour change to a reddish hue, as seen from Sydney Observatory on 26 May 2021.

First Nations Peoples in Australia and the Torres Strait islands observed and recorded eclipses of the Moon as described in the Aboriginal astronomy website.

Total lunar eclipse 26 May 2021, photo Toner Stevenson

For more details about the 8 September total eclipse of the Moon see https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/australia/sydney?iso=20250907.