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Late at night on Thursday, March 13 and into Friday, March 14, 2025, the full Worm Moon will do something strange and spectacular as it passes through Earth's dark shadow in space. Colloquially called a "blood moon," this rare total lunar eclipse -- which has not occurred anywhere on Earth since November 2022 -- will see the full moon take on reddish hues. North America will have a front-row seat, with all time zones able to witness a magical 65-minute totality.

Here are seven weird facts about this week's total lunar eclipse:

A total lunar eclipse is the result of the full moon traveling through Earth'' shadow in space. That explains why the full moon loses much of its brightness, but why does it go a reddish color during totality? That's down to refraction. During totality, when the moon is fully inside Earth's darkest shadow, its umbra, the only sunlight that can reach the lunar surface is traveling through the Earth's atmosphere. Just as a sunset looks reddish, so does the moon during totality because long-wavelength light -- which is redder -- most easily passes through the thickest part of Earth's atmosphere, while short-wavelength blueish light more easily strikes atoms and is scattered. The effect is "a range of hues painted on the moon by all of Earth's sunrises and sunsets," according to NASA.

According to Timeanddate.com, about 863 million people live somewhere from where the entire eclipse from beginning to end will be visible -- and that means the Americas. That's about 10% of humans. However, about 3.2 billion people -- almost 40% -- will see at least one phase of the eclipse.

As Earth travels around the sun every year, it projects its shadow behind it into the outer solar system. By definition, a full moon is on the opposite side of the Earth to the sun, so it makes sense that occasionally the moon can travel through Earth's shadow. When it does so, it's a sublime sight, but one that is criminally underrated. Although during a total lunar eclipse, it's the blood moon totality that gets people interested; the partial phases on either side went to see the edge of Earth's mighty shadow move gradually across the lunar surface.

During the partial phases, our eyes see a bright side of the moon and an almost black side as Earth's shadow travels across it. Only when Earth's shadow engulfs the moon completely does totality begin, during which the light levels are more equal, so we see the entire disk of the moon as a reddish color. So get outside an hour before totality and keep looking until an hour after for one of nature's strangest most incredible sights.

Twice a year, the full moon passes through Earth's shadow. The reason it doesn't happen every month is the moon's tilted orbit, which sees most full moons pass either above or below the cone-shaped shadow Earth projects into space.

Everyone knows that the full moon turns a reddish color during a total lunar eclipse, but no two eclipses are alike. That's because when the moon drifts through the center of Earth's darkest shadow, the umbra, it does so in a slightly different way. The closer a part of the moon is to the very center of Earth's umbra, the redder it will appear, which leaves the regions farthest from the center a lighter, more pinkish or peachy color. Since the moon is moving during totality, its appearance will significantly change -- and NASA's Ernie Wright knows exactly how it will look.

It may be impactful, but the full worm moon - which will become a blood moon for 65 minutes - will actually be one of the smallest of the year. Just as there are a few supermoons every year when the full moon is at its closest point to Earth, there are also just as many full moons that are the most distant. The smallest full moon of 2025 was actually the snow on February 12, but the Worm Moon on March 14 will be almost as small.

Although all of North America and most of South America get a wonderful view of this total lunar eclipse, there is one place right to the center of everything. Sitting at the midway point of the vast area where the entire eclipse is visible is a location in the Pacific Ocean south of Mexico and west of Ecuador. The nearest landmass is the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador -- one of the world's foremost destinations for wildlife viewing -- from where totality will begin at 00:26 GALT.