First images show blood moon rising during the September 2025 total lunar eclipse event

A total lunar eclipse happens at a new moon, when Earth lines up between the moon and the sun and blankets the lunar disk in its shadow. As the moon moved into Earth’s inner shadow, the umbra, on Sept. 7, scattered sunlight from every sunrise and sunset washed over it, tinting the surface a rusty red 'blood moon'. The Sept. 7–8 total lunar eclipse has concluded, delighting skywatchers with a striking blood moon reportedly seen by more than seven billion people across Asia, western Australia, and eastern Europe.