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 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. ||||| Total lunar eclipse photo, above, taken in 2004 by Fred Espenak 
 
 The Blue Moon – second of two full moons in one calendar month – will pass through the Earth’s shadow on January 31, 2018, to give us a total lunar eclipse. Totality, when the moon will be entirely inside the Earth’s dark umbral shadow, will last a bit more than one-and-a-quarter hours. The January 31 full moon is also the third in a series of three straight full moon supermoons – that is, super-close full moons. It’s the first of two Blue Moons in 2018. So it’s not just a total lunar eclipse, or a Blue Moon, or a supermoon. It’s all three … a super Blue Moon total eclipse! 
 
 Is it the first Blue Moon total eclipse in 150 years, as some social media memes are now claiming? It is … if you’re not considering the whole world, but only the Americas. More about that below. 
 
 How about supermoon total lunar eclipses? The last supermoon total lunar eclipse was in September 2015. And the last super Blue Moon total eclipse happened on December 30, 1982. 
 
 IMPORTANT. If you live in North America or the Hawaiian Islands, this lunar eclipse will be visible in your sky before sunrise on January 31. 
 
 On the other hand, if you live in the Middle East, Asia, Indonesia, Australia or New Zealand, this lunar eclipse will happen in the evening hours after sunset on January 31. 
 
 Follow the links below to learn eclipse times and more: 
 
 Eclipse times in Universal Time 
 
 Eclipse times for North American time zones 
 
 Eclipse calculators provide eclipse times for your sky 
 
 First Blue Moon total eclipse in 150 years? Well… 
 
 Who will see a partial lunar eclipse? 
 
 What causes a lunar eclipse? 
 
 January 31 is 1st of two Blue Moons in 2018 
 
 Eclipse times in Universal Time 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse begins: 11:48 Universal Time (UT) 
 
 Total eclipse begins: 12:52 UT 
 
 Greatest eclipse: 13:30 UT 
 
 Total eclipse ends: 14:08 UT 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse ends: 15:11 UT 
 
 How do I translate Universal Time to my time? 
 
 Eclipse times for North American time zones: 
 
 Eastern Standard Time (January 31, 2018) 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse begins: 6:48 a.m. EST 
 
 Moon sets before start of total eclipse 
 
 Central Standard Time (January 31, 2018) 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse begins: 5:48 a.m. CST 
 
 Total eclipse begins: 6:52 a.m. CST 
 
 Moon may set before totality ends 
 
 Mountain Standard Time (January 31, 2018) 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse begins: 4:48 a.m. MST 
 
 Total eclipse begins: 5:52 a.m. MST 
 
 Greatest eclipse: 6:30 a.m. MST 
 
 Total eclipse ends: 7:08 a.m. MST 
 
 Moon sets before end of partial umbral eclipse 
 
 Pacific Standard Time (January 31, 2018) 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse begins: 3:48 a.m. PST 
 
 Total eclipse begins: 4:52 a.m. PST 
 
 Greatest eclipse: 5:30 a.m. PST 
 
 Total eclipse ends: 6:08 a.m. PST 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse ends: 7:11 a.m. PST 
 
 Moon may set before end of partial umbral eclipse 
 
 Alaskan Standard Time (January 31, 2018) 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse begins: 2:48 a.m. AKST 
 
 Total eclipse begins: 3:52 a.m. AKST 
 
 Greatest eclipse: 4:30 a.m. AKST 
 
 Total eclipse ends: 5:08 a.m. AKST 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse ends: 6:11 a.m. AKST 
 
 Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (January 31, 2018) 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse begins: 1:48 a.m. HAST 
 
 Total eclipse begins: 2:52 a.m. HAST 
 
 Greatest eclipse: 3:30 a.m. HAST 
 
 Total eclipse ends: 4:08 a.m. HAST 
 
 Partial umbral eclipse ends: 5:11 a.m. HAST 
 
 Eclipse calculators provide eclipse times for your sky. 
 
 Remember … you have to be on the night side of Earth while the lunar eclipse is taking place to witness this great natural phenomenon. Of course, people around the globe want to know whether the eclipse is visible from their part of the world and at what time. To find out the local time of the greatest eclipse in your sky, click on this eclipse calculator and put in the name of a city near you. No time conversion is necessary for this eclipse calculator or the one below because the eclipse times are given in local time. 
 
 Eclipse computer via the US Naval Observatory 
 
 First Blue Moon total eclipse in 150 years? Well… It depends on where you live. Yes, we’ve seen the social media memes going around suggesting this is the first Blue Moon total eclipse in 150 years. But the meme is true only for time zones in and around the Americas, not for the rest of the world. The last time that we had a Blue Moon total lunar eclipse – reckoning in world time (UTC, or GMT) – was December 30, 1982. 
 
 Full moon: 1982 December 1 at 00:21 UTC Full moon: 1982 December 30 at 11:33 UTC (total lunar eclipse) 
 
 That wasn’t a Blue Moon eclipse for the Americas, however. For us, the full moon previous to the total lunar eclipse fell on November 30 – not December 1. 
 
 Before that, there was a Blue Moon total lunar eclipse for the world’s Eastern Hemisphere (Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand) on December 30, 1963. 
 
 Full Moon: 1963 November 30 at 23:54 UTC Full Moon: 1963 December 30 at 11:04 UTC (total lunar eclipse) 
 
 Okay, now, finally we get to it. Before that, in late March 1866, there was a Blue Moon total lunar eclipse for North and South American time zones. But this full moon was not a supermoon. 
 
 Full Moon: 1866 March 1 at 11:52 UTC Full Moon: 1866 March 31 at 4:32 UTC (total lunar eclipse) 
 
 By the way, the next Blue Moon total lunar eclipse will happen on December 31, 2028. 
 
 Source: Moon Phases by Fred Espenak 
 
 Who will see a partial lunar eclipse? A partial lunar eclipse precedes the total eclipse by a little over one hour, and follows totality for a little over one hour. 
 
 So, from start to finish, the moon takes 3 hours and 23 minutes to totally cross Earth’s dark umbral shadow. Eastern North America can see beginning stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the west before sunrise January 31, whereas portions of the Middle East and far-eastern Europe can view the ending stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the east after sunset January 31. South America, most of Europe and Africa won’t be able see this eclipse. See worldwide map below. 
 
 Incidentally, a very light penumbral eclipse comes before and after the dark (umbral) stage of the lunar eclipse. But this sort of eclipse is so faint that many people won’t even notice it. The penumbral eclipse would be more fun to watch from the moon, where it would be seen as a partial eclipse of the sun. 
 
 Worldwide map of the 2018 January 31 total lunar eclipse 
 
 Day and night sides of Earth at greatest total eclipse 
 
 What causes a lunar eclipse? A lunar eclipse can only happen at full moon. Only then is it possible for the moon to be directly opposite the sun in our sky, and to pass into the Earth’s dark umbral shadow. Most of the time, however, the full moon eludes the Earth’s shadow by swinging to the north of it, or south of it. For instance, the last full moon on January 2, 2018, swung south of the Earth’s shadow. The next full moon – on March 2, 2018 – will swing north of the Earth’s shadow. 
 
 The moon’s orbital plane around Earth is actually inclined at 5 degrees to the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane around the sun. However, the moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic at two points called nodes. It’s an ascending node where it crosses the Earth’s orbital plane going from south to north, and a descending node where it crosses the Earth’s orbital plane,going from north to south. 
 
 In short, a lunar eclipse happens when the full moon closely coincides with one of its nodes, and a solar eclipse happens when a new moon does likewise. It’s not a perfect alignment this time around, with the moon turning full about 5 hours before the moon crosses its ascending node. But that’s close enough for this full moon to stage a total lunar eclipse that lasts a touch more than one and 1/4 hours. 
 
 Bottom line: The super Blue Moon happens before sunrise on January 31, 2018, for North America and Hawaii. It happens after sunset on January 31 for the Middle East, Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Details here. 
 
 Need more details? Visit Fred Espenak’s page 
 
 EarthSky astronomy kits are perfect for beginners. Order today from the EarthSky store 
 
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– 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.)