The moon turns blood-red in this image of a total lunar eclipse from 2004. A total eclipse of a "blue moon" will occur on Jan. 31, 2018. 
 
 The first eclipse of 2018 will be a lunar one that comes at the very end of the month, on Jan. 31. 
 
 It will be a total eclipse that involves the second full moon of the month, popularly referred to as a Blue Moon. Such a skywatching event hasn't happened for more than 150 years. 
 
 The eclipse will take place during the middle of the night, and the Pacific Ocean will be turned toward the moon at the time. Central and eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand and most of Australia will get a fine view of this moon show in the evening sky. Heading farther west into western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the eclipse will already be underway as the moon rises. [Super Blue Blood-Moon 2018: When, Where and How to See It] 
 
 To the east, Alaska, Hawaii and northwestern Canada will see the eclipse from start to finish. Moonset will intervene for the rest of North and Central America, however. 
 
 Below, we provide a timetable for the main stages of the moon's passage through the Earth's shadow for six time zones — one for Hawaii (HST), one for Alaska (AKST) and four across the U.S and Canada: Pacific (PST), Mountain (MST), Central (CST) and Eastern (EST). All times are a.m. 
 
 Timetable for the main stages of the Jan. 31, 2018, blue moon total lunar eclipse, for six time zones. Credit: Joe Rao/Space.com 
 
 Along the U.S. West Coast, the total phase begins at 4:51 a.m. PST. The farther east you go, the closer the start of the partial phases will coincide with moonrise. Along the U.S. Atlantic Seaboard, for instance, the moon will have only just begun to enter the darkest part of Earth's shadow, the umbra, at 6:48 a.m. EST when it will disappear from view below the west-northwest horizon. The duration of the total phase is 77 minutes, with the moon tracking through the southern part of the Earth's shadow. So, during totality, the moon's lower limb will appear much brighter than the dark upper limb. [In Photos: The Snow Moon Lunar Eclipse & Comet 45P Encounter] 
 
 How unusual are Blue Moon eclipses? To answer that question, we consulted the reference book Canon of Lunar Eclipses, 1500 B.C. - A.D. 3000, by Bao-Lin Liu and Alan D. Fiala (Willmann-Bell Inc., 1992). 
 
 This NASA chart by eclipse expert Fred Espenak details the visibility range and times for the Jan. 31, 218 total lunar eclipse, which also occurs during a blue moon and near a supermoon. Credit: NASA 
 
 After this year, the next time that a Blue Moon passes through Earth's umbra will be on Dec. 31, 2028, and, after that, on Jan. 31, 2037. Both of these eclipses will be total. Before 2017, there was an 8 percent partial eclipse on Dec. 31, 2009, but, for a total eclipse of a Blue Moon, we have to go all the way back to March 31, 1866. 
 
 So, the upcoming eclipse on Jan. 31 will be the first total eclipse of a Blue Moon in nearly 152 years! 
 
 We will have more to say about January's eclipse here at Space.com in the coming weeks. 
 
 Editor's note: If you capture an amazing photo of the Jan. 31 total lunar eclipse and would like to share it with Space.com for a story or gallery, send images and comments to: spacephotos@space.com. 
 
 Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for Verizon Fios1 News, based in Rye Brook, NY. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. ||||| Visible supermoons—full moons that appear when the moon is at its closest orbital point to Earth—aren’t very rare. Having three in a row certainly is. 
 
 And that’s exactly what astronomy fans are being treated to this winter. 
 
 The first supermoon appeared when the moon swung by Earth 26,500 km (approximately 16,500 miles) closer than usual on Dec. 3. It will reappear as a visible supermoon on New Year’s Day 2018 and again on Jan. 31. 
 
 Visible supermoons appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than full moons that occur at the farthest point in the moon’s orbit. If you only have time to catch one episode of the trilogy, NASA recommends catching the last one, which will be extra special. 
 
 Not only is the second full moon of a month considered a blue moon, the Jan. 31 supermoon will also feature a total lunar eclipse, with totality visible from eastern Asia across the Pacific to western North America. During the eclipse, the moon will slowly lose its brightness and take on a reddish hue because of the way the atmosphere bends the light, says NASA. As a result, totally eclipsed moons are sometimes also called “blood moons.” 
 
 When can I see the supermoons and the lunar eclipse? 
 
 The best time to enjoy either supermoon is right after moonrise and before sunrise, when the moon is sitting on the horizon. It will appear its biggest and brightest because of a “moon illusion” effect that’s created when you are able to compare the lunar body to other objects for scale, like buildings and foliage. Check your local moonrise time here. 
 
 Don’t worry if you miss the moonrise—you can continue to enjoy a larger-than-average moon for a few more days. It just won’t be a full moon. 
 
 On the night of Jan. 31, the lunar eclipse will begin at 11:48am UTC and reach its maximum at 1:30pm UTC. That means viewers who live in eastern North America will need to wake up early to catch the partial eclipse. Here’s a map of where you can see the eclipse. 
 
 Ruaraidh Gillies/Wikimedia Commons From supermoon to blood moon. 
 
 Can I see the supermoon and lunar eclipse without going outside? 
 
 If it’s too cloudy, or too cold to go outside, there are options to beam either celestial event straight to your living room. The Virtual Telescope project provides a livestream of the Jan. 1 supermoon rise over Rome’s skyline, beginning at 4:00pm UTC, and the Jan. 31 eclipse from Australia, beginning at 11:30am UTC. 
 
 What’s the best way to photograph the supermoon or lunar eclipse? 
 
 To take a picture of the supermoon or the lunar eclipse with a smartphone, tap on the moon on the screen and hold your finger in place to lock the camera’s focus. Then adjust the exposure slider that appears next to your finger to get the right balance of light for your shot. 
 
 If you’re using a DSLR, NASA’s senior photographer Bill Ingalls recommends that you use the daylight white balance to adjust for the sunlight being reflected off the moon. He says that it’s important to keep in mind that the moon is a moving object. “It’s a balancing act between trying to get the right exposure and realizing that the shutter speed typically needs to be a lot faster.” 
 
 Bill Ingalls/NASA A supermoon behind the Colorado State Capitol Building on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. 
 
 To get an original shot, Ingalls suggests taking a picture that puts the moon in context of a local landmark, something that gives your photo a sense of place. “Don’t make the mistake of photographing the moon by itself with no reference to anything,” say Ingalls. “Everyone will get that shot.” 
 
 Do I need special glasses to watch the supermoon or the lunar eclipse? 
 
 Fortunately, unlike the solar eclipse, the supermoon and the lunar eclipse are safe to view with the naked eye! There’s nothing to worry about if you find yourself enthralled and staring up into the sky for a very long time. ||||| The night of September 27-28 will showcase a lunar eclipse coupled with a "supermoon": a full moon that appears larger because it's at perigee, the closest point of its orbit with Earth. The concurrence is relatively rare, having not happened since 1982 
 
 Though some observers are viewing the date with fear -- calling the eclipse a "blood moon" -- for astronomers and stargazers, the event is to be welcomed with celebration. 
 
 "It's a beautiful sight in the nighttime sky," said Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at Chicago's Adler Planetarium . "It's a way of connecting us to the universe at large. It gives us this view that there's a bigger picture than just what we're concerned with in our daily lives." 
 
 The entire eclipse, from first shadow to last, will be visible from most of the Americas -- including the eastern half of the United States -- Greenland, Western Europe, western Africa north of the equator and parts of Antarctica. Other portions of the world, including western North America, the rest of Europe and Africa and a swath of western Asia, will see most of the drama, though they'll miss the first or fading bites of the moon. 
 
 In the United States, observatories are hosting a variety of festivities to showcase the eclipse and supermoon. 
 
 Can't make it to a planetarium? NASA TV will have live eclipse coverage that you can watch in the comfort of your own home. 
 
 Or you can walk outside. 
 
 "You don't have to be anyplace special. If you can see the moon, you can just look up," said the Griffith's curator, Laura Danly. 
 
 The Earth's shadow will start making its way across the moon at 8:11 p.m. ET. The total eclipse begins at 10:11 p.m. ET and will peak at 10:47 p.m. ET. The total eclipse will last about 72 minutes. 
 
 A sign of turmoil? 
 
 Hammergren points out that these astronomical events link humanity to history. We've been watching the skies for thousands of years, creating mythology, arriving at scientific discoveries and simply taking pleasure in the movement of celestial bodies. 
 
 "Astronomy, in particular, is something that hooks us up to our most ancient roots," he said. 
 
 For some, astronomy also provides clues to earthly futures -- and this particular "blood moon," as some end-times believers call the lunar eclipse for the reddish tint of the earth's shadow, is revealing of particularly troubled times to come. 
 
 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – From biblical times to the present, the end of the world has been anticipated many times. CNN asked Lorenzo DiTommaso, religion professor and author of the book "The Architecture of Apocalypticism," to describe end of the world predictions throughout history. Hide Caption 1 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – The Bible's book of Genesis tells how the wickedness and corruption of humankind saddens God to such a point that he unleashes a huge flood to wipe out almost all life on Earth. But before he does, he commands Noah to build an ark to save his family and two of each living creature -- one male, one female. The rain lasts 40 days and 40 nights, after which the floodwaters cover the Earth for 150 days. In some Christian views, Noah's flood was the deluge of the world by water, and it will be followed by future judgment and destruction by fire. Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – The most famous Jewish apocalypse is the book of Daniel, the final part of which was written about 165 B.C. The book is both an apocalypse and apocalyptic. It contains predictions about the end of time and foretells the rise and fall of four great empires. Daniel chapters 2 and 7 claim the end will come after the fall of the fourth empire. Daniel 8 and 9 lay out specific timetables, while Daniel 12 offers a brief description of final judgment and a promise of individual resurrection. Along with the book of Revelation, Daniel has had great influence on subsequent apocalyptic speculation and end-time timetables. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – This final book of the New Testament dates from the last decade of the first century A.D. It describes the coming doom in great detail, laying out a sequence of plagues, pestilence, chaos and cosmic catastrophe. Its themes and images are an indelible part of the apocalyptic idiom. Some examples include the number 666 as the "mark of the beast," the expectation of a final battle (Armageddon) and a New Jerusalem that will descend from heaven. Unlike much apocalyptic literature, Revelation does not pinpoint a precise doomsday date. This has allowed people of later centuries to interpret the book's message in their own way and to believe, in some cases, that the end will come in their time. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – The "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius" is arguably the most influential of hundreds of apocalyptic texts composed by Christians, Jews and Muslims during the Middle Ages. Written in Syriac (an Aramaic dialect), almost certainly in the seventh century, it was quickly translated into Greek, Latin and other languages. Pseudo-Methodius coincided with the rise of Islam, and its message comforted Christians living in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern lands. It promised the coming of an end-time emperor who would vanquish Muslims, confound the enemies of Christ and restore the glories of Rome. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – The Anabaptists were Reformation Christians in 16th- and 17th-century Europe. Melchior Hoffman, an Anabaptist visionary and prophet, proclaimed that a new era would begin in 1533. Strasbourg, now in France, would be the epicenter of the event and the location of the New Jerusalem. When the apocalypse didn't happen, some followers blamed flawed calculations. They said Munster, now in Germany, would be the second coming site, and this led to the Munster Rebellion of 1534-35, when Anabaptists tried to establish a radical theocracy in the city. The Amish and the Mennonites are among the groups that descended from the Anabaptists. Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – Sabbatai Zevi, a young Kabbalah scholar, lived in Smyrna (now Izmir in Turkey). In 1648 he announced he was the long-awaited messiah. Jews believed the messiah would come that year and shepherd in the end of days. When 1648 came and went without incident, rabbis censured and then banished Sabbatai Zevi from Smyrna. He traveled for 15 years and adopted the Christian apocalyptic speculation that the end would come in 1666. Anticipating the overthrow of the sultan in Constantinople, he and his followers headed that way in early 1666, only to be imprisoned. Taken before the sultan, he converted to Islam on the spot, as did many followers, thereby ending his mass movement. Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – The "Great Disappointment" was the most notorious example of a failed doomsday prophecy in American religious history. In the 1830s, after crunching numbers derived from biblical prophecy, Baptist preacher William Miller became convinced the end-time events and second coming of Jesus would occur between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. When nothing happened, others recalculated and said the date would be October 22, 1844. The repeated failure of these apocalyptic predictions greatly disappointed evangelicals. Rather than suppress future apocalyptic speculations, however, the experience galvanized evangelical Christianity in the United States. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – "Marian Keech" (an alias used by sociologists who infiltrated her group) led a tiny doomsday sect. She had earlier been a part of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics movement before he created Scientology. She claimed spiritual beings on the planets Cerus and Clarion told her a flood would destroy Chicago on December 21, 1954. A visitor would arrive at midnight on December 20 to take her group to a waiting spacecraft and salvation. When nothing appeared, she said the group's piety helped change God's mind. The incident inspired the book "When Prophecy Fails," introducing the public to the term cognitive dissonance, the mental turmoil provoked by holding contradictory ideas simultaneously. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – A 1966 pamphlet published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, an organization of the Jehovah's Witnesses, mentioned that the seventh period of human history, which was to last 1,000 years, would begin in 1975. Although never a part of official doctrine, the view that the world would end in 1975 came to be accepted by many members and profoundly affected the outlook and public activities of the religion. Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – The Branch Davidians (a distant offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church) became a household name when members killed four U.S. agents in a 1993 shootout at the group's compound near Waco, Texas. After a 51-day standoff, the FBI stormed the compound. An ensuing fire left nearly 80 Branch Davidians dead, including their leader and prophet David Koresh. During the standoff, Koresh worked to decipher the seven seals of the book of Revelation, which he thought would explain the group's situation. The Branch Davidians were one of several apocalyptic movements since the 1970s to result in tragedy, including Jim Jones' Peoples Temple. Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – Marshall Herff Applewhite and Bonnie Lu Nettles founded a theology that blended biblical apocalypticism and science fiction. The Earth, they said, was a stepping stone to a higher evolutionary state. They were convinced the planet, which they likened to a garden, was so full of weeds that God (actually an alien from the evolutionary level above human) would plow it under, or recycle it. In March 1997, 39 members committed suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, outside San Diego, California, to escape the prophesized doom. They believed a spaceship, traveling alongside the comet Hale-Bopp, would transmit their souls to their evolutionary destination. Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – Some Christians thought the end date would be May 21, 2011. That's when their biblical calculations told them the Rapture would occur, when the righteous remnant of the world's population would be saved. But that date would also bring an enormous earthquake, draw bodies up from graves and mark the beginning of five apocalyptic months before the world would finally end on October 21. The best-known proponent of this belief was Harold Camping, founder of Family Radio, a Christian broadcasting ministry. Camping previously claimed that the world would end on September 6, 1994. Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: Photos: Doomsdays throughout time Doomsdays throughout time – According to the 2012 theory, data recorded in the Mayan "Long Count" calendar suggested the present age would end on December 21, 2012. The 2012 prediction combines old-school apocalyptic notions with a nonbiblical (Mayan) timetable. Some expected a cosmic calamity on the order of Revelation. Others anticipated an alignment of the planets or the sudden inclusion of a new celestial body. Still others thought 2012 would usher in a spiritual transformation. The Internet -- not to mention Hollywood -- played a huge role in shaping the 2012 message, allowing people around the world to participate in what became a global, multicultural phenomenon. Hide Caption 14 of 14 
 
 The eclipse is said to be the last of a "tetrad," four consecutive total lunar eclipses, each separated by six lunar months, that took place on Jewish holidays. (The first three in the current series took place April 15, 2014; October 8, 2014; and April 4, 2015.) Some Christian ministers have theorized that the sequence has earth-shaking significance, noting that other tetrads took place in key years in history, including 1492 (Jewish expulsion from Spain) and 1948 (a Mideast war). 
 
 "The coming four blood moons points to a world-shaking event that will happen between April 2014 and October 2015," he said. 
 
 And Mark Blitz, head of El Shaddai Ministries and the author of "Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs," says God is trying to get humanity's attention -- and we ignore it at our peril. 
 
 "There are always the naysayers and the agnostics when it comes to God trying to reach mankind in His urgent message to repent," he told World News Daily , which has been charting the eclipse's arrival with headlines such as " 'Blood Moons' expert: Get on God's calendar" and "Coming solar eclipse seen as 'judgment.' " 
 
 "Here we have had four total lunar eclipses in a row on Passover and Tabernacles," he said. "And just look what is happening in the world today!" 
 
 Skeptics have pointed out that claims made of "blood moons" -- a term that has arisen only in the past few years, Hammergren says -- should be taken with at least a few grains of salt . After all, their coincidence with Jewish holidays is logical, since the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, and some tetrads' occurrence in significant historical years is an example of confirmation bias: looking for connections that fit preconceived notions. 
 
 "Some people look at it as being a portent of doom. That is not uncommon," said the Griffith's Danly. "But it really isn't. It is the alignment of the sun and the moon." 
 
 Added the Adler's Hammergren, "People have been predicting the end of the world for thousands of years in recorded history, and not a single time has that come about." 
 
 'It's a great entry point' 
 
 One prediction that's still being refined is one of the most basic: the weather. 
 
 On Sunday afternoon, CNN Weather reported that viewing conditions will be poor in the Southeast with low visibility stretching along the Gulf Coast up into parts of the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic. 
 
 New England will be the exception in the East, with clear skies mostly north of Massachusetts. 
 
 The Midwest through most of the lower Central Plains should offer fair to good conditions for viewing, but a front is expected to move through the Northern Plains, bringing clouds to the front's boundary from Minnesota through the Dakotas. 
 
 Out West, where the eclipse will be partial, clear conditions are expected. 
 
 Hammergren points out the supermoon eclipse is one of those events best viewed with the naked eye (though binoculars can come in handy), so anywhere there's a clear sky will do the trick. 
 
 Danly concurs. "It is a beautiful sight," she said. 
 
 It's also a great chance for astronomers to educate folks who may spend more time staring down at a screen than looking up at the sky. 
 
 "It's a great entry point," Hammergren said. " 'You think the lunar eclipse is neat? Let me tell about this other stuff going on.' " 
 
 But don't miss your chance at Sunday's supermoon eclipse. The next one isn't due until 2033.
– Look up at the sky on Jan. 31 and you may witness a sight unseen for 150 years. For the first time since 1866, a total lunar eclipse will occur with the blue moon, or second full moon of the month, which—like the one visible on New Year's Day—will also be a supermoon. Got all that? When the moon is at or near the closest point to Earth in its orbit (aka, a supermoon), it appears 14% bigger and 30% brighter than full moons that occur at the farthest point in the moon's orbit, though the moon will lose brightness as it enters Earth's shadow, according to NASA. Because of the way Earth's atmosphere bends light, the eclipsed moon will take on a reddish hue, something often referred to as a blood moon, making this rare celestial event "a super blue blood moon eclipse," according to the Miami Herald. The next blue moon eclipse won't occur until 2028. The eclipse will last for 3.5 hours, with the total eclipse stretching for 77 minutes, reports Sky & Telescope. Those along the Pacific Rim from Alaska and northwestern Canada to central and eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Australia will get the best view of totality during the middle of the night. However, partial phases of the eclipse should be visible under a clear sky in central North America, western Asia, India, the Middle East and eastern Europe, per Space.com. North American viewers should look up as the moon sets on the morning of Jan. 31, while those on the opposite side of the world should see a partial eclipse as the moon rises. Not in an ideal viewing area? The Virtual Telescope plans to livestream the total eclipse from Australia, which you can watch here, per Quartz. (Bogus glasses damaged a solar eclipse viewer's eyes.)