Perhaps we are somewhat accustomed to seeing the Moon appear pink in the sky on summer evenings, but the Moon turns blood red may look like a horror movieespecially if we also call it that: «Blood Moon». It is not strange that cinema and television have often noticed it. Not so long ago the film director Ana Lily Amirpour turned it into the backdrop of Mona Lisa and the Blood Moonwhich tells a story of crimes and supernatural powers, and the Spanish miniseries If I had known made her the main influence on a protagonist who rethinks her life.

But the red moon or blood moon It has little to do with supernatural powers, nocturnal crimes or super powerful desires, but rather It is something very real that has an astronomical explanation and that we are lucky to be able to enjoy when a total lunar eclipse occurs, like the one we had last March 2025 or the one we will have with the full Moon in September this year.

What is the Blood Moon or Red Moon?

Beyond the fact that the Moon can arouse so much fascination and give rise to the most varied legends, there is no doubt that it is a constant in our lives and that, every time something occurs, unusual phenomenon related to it, many of us are wondering why it happens, how to see it, or even if it could influence us.

One of these phenomena is Red Moon or Blood Moon, a full Moon that turns reddish tones when a total lunar eclipse occurs as a result of a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering. It has nothing to do with the Strawberry Moon, a Moon whose name might suggest that it refers to its color, but which in reality only refers to the full Moon in June.

When will there be a blood moon?

The Red Moon or Blood Moon always takes place, therefore, in the full Moon phase and during a total lunar eclipse. The last time we were able to enjoy this type of Moon was during the total lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025which could be seen from half the planet, including Spain.

The following is the one that will take place this September 7, 2025with the full Moon in September. It will be visible from much of the planet: although the totality phase will be seen mainly from Asia, the east coast of Africa and much of Australia, the Blood Moon can also be partially enjoyed in much of Europe. From Spain, you can enjoy for a while at dusk, when the Moon is rising over the horizon.

Why is the Moon seen red?

During a lunar eclipse, the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon. The Earth’s shadow hangs over the Moon, fully or partially, depending on whether the Earth, Sun and Moon are better or worse aligned. The total lunar eclipse occurs when the three stars become aligned: at that moment The Moon is located in the center of the Earth’s shadow and stops receiving direct light from the Sun. And that’s when the “magic” is done.

When the light of the Sun «retreats» from the Moon, another light rests on it: the light that escapes from the earth’s atmospherea residual light in which long-wave lights, such as red or orange, predominate. This is due to a phenomenon known as Raileigh scattering.

Light travels in the form of waves and Each color has a different wavelength. Blue light has a shorter wavelength and when it comes into contact with particles suspended in the Earth’s atmosphere, it scatters more easily than red light, which has a longer wavelength. This phenomenon explains how the sky turns red, pink or orange during sunrise or sunset.

During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon is illuminated by the residual light from the Earth and therefore acquires reddish tones.

«Red light passes through the atmosphere more directly,» NASA explains in its information on the eclipse. «When the Sun is high, we see blue light throughout the sky, but when it sets at dusk, Solar radiation has to pass through more atmosphere and travel a greater distance to reach our eyes. «On this path the blue light is dispersed, while the red, orange and yellow lights, with longer wavelengths, manage to arrive.»

The same thing happens during the lunar eclipse. «The Moon turns red because the only solar radiation that manages to reach the Moon does so by passing through the Earth’s atmosphere.»

How red is a red moon

Scientists can calculate and predict when exactly a total lunar eclipse will occur, but They cannot predict exactly what color the Moon will acquire. or with what intensity, since that depends on the concentration of particles in the atmosphere. «The more dust or clouds there are in the Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the moon will looka», explain NASA experts. «It is as if all the sunrises and sunsets in the world were projected onto the Moon.»

How to see the blood moon

If the red Moon is visible from your location, you do not need any special equipment or protection to see it. Of course, the ideal way to see it well, with all its nuances, is to do it from a dark environment, with little light pollution.

Blood Moon: Spiritual Meaning

Many people wonder if the Blood Moon exerts any type of influence or has any spiritual meaning.

On November 8, 2022, for example, the red moon coincided with election day to the House of Representatives in the United States and the coincidence did not go unnoticed in the media.

From astrology it is also said that The eclipse especially affects different signs of the zodiac. The Full Moon this March is located in Virgo, and this is considered the most affected sign, but not the only one.

A moon that creates legend

In recent years the Moon is increasingly present in the media, and also in cinema. The Blood Moon is no exception, as we have seen with recent productions Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon either If I had known.

They are not the first fictions that attribute some unusual effects on humans to the red Moon. The documentary film Red Moon (Lúa Vermella) (2020) by Lois Patiño is based on the legend that the blood moon portends catastrophes. So, vermella luais a documentary fable about shipwrecked people on the Galician Costa da Morte that is based on ancestral traditions that attribute spiritual meaning to this Moon.

The legends surrounding the Blood Moon come from distant times. Beyond what astrology says, Mayans They considered that this Moon symbolized the war between the gods. The AztecsFor their part, they thought that the red moon occurred when day and night fought a battle.