Ruth Patrick Science Education Center

Lunar Eclipse - Late-night of March 13-14, 2025

The Astronomy Club of Augusta and the DuPont Planetarium at the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center on the campus of the University of South Carolina Aiken will be hosting a FREE lunar eclipse viewing on March 14, 2025. We will begin setting up for the event at about 12:45 AM and will stay at least through the maximum eclipse at about 3:00 AM. We will have the observatory open and other options for viewing the night sky.

This eclipse is known as the "Pi Day Blood Worm Moon." Why has it been given such an interesting name?

Pi Day: March 14 is celebrated as Pi Day because it can be written as 3/14 or 3-14 or 3.14. Pi (π) is a Greek letter and used as the symbol to represent the number 3.1415926 (first 8 digits), which is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. This is an irrational (non-repeating) and transcendental (not algebraic) number. We can consider more digits of Pi with the date and time by stating that you can enjoy a partial lunar eclipse on 3/14 at 1:59:26 AM. That will give you the first 8 digits of Pi!

Blood: A blood moon is a term often used to describe a lunar eclipse. During a lunar eclipse, the moon turns a reddish color. Some ancient people thought that the reddish color gave the moon a "bloody" appearance. The color is caused by sunlight passing through and bouncing off of the Earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere scatters the shorter wavelengths and only the longer reddish wavelengths pass through. These wavelengths "bounce" off the atmosphere and some of them reach the surface of the Moon. We see the red light reflecting back to Earth showing the "blood" moon.

Worm: There is usually one full moon during each month of the year. The full moon for each month has been given a name, and March’s full moon is known as the "Worm Moon." The reason for the name is that during March is when earthworms begin to emerge from the thawing ground after a cold winter. Here are the names of the full moons. January - Wolf Moon, February - Snow Moon, March - Worm Moon, April - Pink Moon, May - Flower Moon, June - Strawberry Moon, July - Buck Moon, August - Sturgeon Moon, September or October - Harvest Moon, September - Full Corn Moon, October - Hunter's Moon, November - Beaver Moon, December - Cold Moon.

You may watch the "Blood Worm Moon" from anywhere that you have a view of the Moon. We will have telescopes available for you if you are interested in visiting us at the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center.