Weather permitting, a total lunar eclipse can be seen from Iceland in the early morning of March 14, 2025
Weather permitting, a total lunar eclipse can be seen from Iceland in the early morning of March 14, 2025. The Moon, however, will set before the eclipse ends and so it cannot be seen in its entirety from Iceland.
The lunar eclipse is best viewed from North- and South-America and the Pacific, as can be seen in the visibility map below from Sky & Telescope. People there should definitely keep their eyes on the sky.
Total duration of the lunar eclipse is 6h 3m, duration of totality 1h 6m.
During totality, the Moon appears reddish. The reason is that sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere and illuminates the Moon. This reddish light is why total lunar eclipses are sometimes called "bloodmoons".
The red light comes from every sunrise and sunset happening on Earth at the same time. It sometimes varies between eclipses depending on how dusty Earth's atmosphere is.
During totality, the northern part of the Moon should be brighter, just as the southern tip in the image below, due to closeness to the upper part of Earth's umbral shadow.
You don't need any optical aids to watch the lunar eclipse. However, it is even more interesting to watch the eclipse with the help of binoculars or small astronomical telecsope.
Photographing the lunar eclipse is very easy if you are using a DSLR or mirrorless cameras and a nice long focal length lens, for example 400mm or longer. A stable tripod is a must during totality as a longer exposure is needed.
Shooting the eclipse with a smartphone is more cumbersome since the Moon's disk will be tiny. Instead, we recommend using a telescope and image through the eyepiece or buy an adapter to do so.
A high quality telescope on a computerised mount is, of course, the best way to capture the beauty of the eclipse.
During totality, the Moon is within the constellation of Leo, the Lion. Higher in the sky, to the northwest of the Moon, Arcturus in Boötes the Herdsman shines with its brilliant orange hue. Mars sets in the west in the late morning so no planet is up while the lunar eclipse takes place.
Lunar eclipses occur when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are in a direct line, called syzygy, so that the Moon crosses Earth's shadow. During totality, the Moon passes into the darkest part of Earth's umbra.
Lunar eclipses don't occur every month since the orbit of the Moon is tilted by about 5 degrees. Therefore, most of the time, the Moon passes north or south of the shadow.
Two weeks later, on March 29, a partial solar eclipse will also be visible from Iceland. To observe it, solar eclipse goggles are a must.
Next lunar eclipses visible from Iceland will be on:
Sævar Helgi Bragason is an award winning astronomy and science communicator and educator, lecturer, author, TV host and owner and editor of icelandatnight.is and eclipse2026.is.
