Commenting on the 'blood moon' phenomenon, Professor Don Pollacco from the University of Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics Group, said: “The moon, like all planets, gives out no light of its own, but instead shines by reflecting sunlight. On the morning of Friday 14^th March, the moon during its monthly orbit of the Earth will pass through the Earth’s shadow. During this period as sunlight can no longer reach the Moon you might expect it to be invisible but instead a small amount of sunlight reaches the Moon after passing through the Earth’s atmosphere and this light is then reflected off the lunar surface making it visible to us on Earth.

 “As the sunlight travels through our atmosphere on its way to the Moon the redder wavelengths pass through relatively unhindered while the bluer wavelengths are scattered (that's why the sky is blue) by dust suspended in the earth's atmosphere. The red light reaches the moon and is then reflected back to us. So the redness of the moon actually tells us about the conditions in our atmosphere.

 “Consequently, during a lunar eclipse, the moon always appears red. Often the moon will turn a blood red colour and be very striking. While this eclipse is best seen from the other side of the Atlantic, observers on the western side of the UK will see the total phase start before morning twilight at about 4am when the Moon is low in the western sky. From the rest of the UK the eclipse will not be total (but the Moon will be greater than 90% obscured) but should still be a striking spectacle. The best time to see the eclipse will be sometime after 5am and before the sky gets too bright. The full moon often looks larger when near the horizon (an illusion), so this eclipse could look impressive.”