Lunar eclipses aren't all that rare. I've seen a few in my lifetime, and I've only been on this planet for nearly 34 years.
There's one part of the March 3, 2026, eclipse, however, that makes it rare.
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It's called selenelion.
What is selenelion?
Selenelion happens when the rising sun can be seen at the same time as a lunar eclipse.
Here in North Carolina, peak lunar eclipse is at 6:34 a.m. Tuesday, while the sunrise and moonset occur roughly 10 minutes later.
You'd have to get somewhere pretty high up to view something like this, and you'd have to get out of the clouds too.
We're hopeful that our tower cameras in southeast Wake County will be above the clouds.
Our next weather maker is keeping things quite gray Monday and Tuesday, reducing our chances of seeing the lunar eclipse at all.
Bummer, I know.
How does a lunar eclipse happen, anyway?
Even though a lunar eclipse happens pretty "often," it's still amazing how it all comes together.
As Earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits Earth, we get caught up in this game of "Monkey in the Middle."
Earth sits between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow onto the moon.
When you get the total lunar eclipse, you're essentially seeing all of the earth's sunrises and sunsets projected onto the moon's surface. Amazing, right?
Tuesday morning's eclipse is a total one, making it even more of a bummer that we'll be so cloudy for most of it.
In case you're more of the optimistic type, here is the timeline of events for this year's lunar eclipse.
The next lunar eclipse that will be visible here will be on the night of June 25, 2029.