Simon's Blog - Moonlight Shadow

It's not just the name of a fine song that was a hit in the 80's for Mike Oldfield but it's also a teaser for a bit of lunar excitement during the early hours of Monday morning.

At around 1 am on September 28th the Lunar Eclipse will begin. With the sun, the moon and the earth all in a line, the sun will cast a shadow of the earth onto the moon.

So if you just happen to be awake and looking at the moon between about 1 and 4 on Monday morning you’ll see the whole thing and then you'll spot that the moon will turn red in colour.

And that's the second bit of excitement as it's what what they call a Blood Moon.

But that's not all because but it’s also going to a Super Moon, which is when the moon is at it’s closest point to the earth. So it'll appear 30 % brighter and 14% bigger than usual.

The last time we had a Blood Supermoon was in 1982 and it won’t happen again until 2033.

So here's the good news, the skies should be clear Sunday night into Monday so you'll get a great view if you want to enjoy the whole thing.

However wrap up warm because it will be quite chilly!

As ever if you get any photos it's meridianweather@itv.com on the email and you can tweet me @SimonParkinITV if you're on Twitter.