How to see the first 'Blood Moon' total lunar eclipse of 2015 Saturday morning
Observers in Alaska and Hawaii will see the total lunar eclipse from start to finish, while viewers on east coast will see only part of the moon disappear beneath Earth's shadow. That's because the moon will set before the moment of totality - when the sun, Earth, and moon are exactly aligned and Earth's shadow completely eclipses the moon, turning it that iconic blood-red color.
If you're on the US mainland, the best place to be is California where observers will see totality at around 5:00 am, but the event will begin much earlier, at about 3 am. For information about exactly when the eclipse begins in your area and the time of totality, check out timeanddate.com's handy "eclipse calculator".
For New York residents, the show will begin at 5:01 am ET and continue until the moon sets beyond the horizon at 6:46 am ET. Check out the map below for information on how much of the eclipse you can see depending on where you're at in the world:
If you were on the moon during a lunar eclipse, Earth would have a red ring around it as it passed between you and the sun. This red glow projects onto the moon, giving it its red hue during a total eclipse, as shown below.
Not only is this lunar eclipse the first one of 2015, it's also the shortest one of the 21st Century!
While the whole event will last a little over 5 hours, the most spectacular moment - totality - will only last 4 minutes and 43 seconds. So, if you want to glimpse that eerie moment of the Blood Moon, make sure you know exactly when totality takes place in your part of the world so you don't miss it.
And it's not too long of a wait for the longest total lunar eclipse of the century where the moment of totality will last an incredible 1 hours and 42 minutes.
If your skies are cloudy or you're in a part of the world that won't see the moment of totality, you can still catch the whole show online. The live online observatory, Slooh, will broadcast the event live starting at 6 am ET (3 am PT). Astronomers will be talking about the eclipse during the broadcast and you can ask them questions on Twitter by including #BreakfastEclipse in your tweet.