Blood Moon: The Lunar Eclipse That (Almost) Nobody Saw

It's possible to calculate exactly when an eclipse will occur: just calculate the time using math, orbits, and clocks. What no formula guarantees is where the visibility lottery or sky conditions will be . This Sunday, September 7, 2025 , long marked on calendars as the day of a total lunar eclipse, that fate (a priori) fell upon the Balearic Islands.

But that's where our luck ended. Cloudy skies prevented us from enjoying the long-awaited Blood Moon, which was also absent from other locations in Spain.

The Balearic Islands weren't the only unlucky spot on the planet. This total eclipse was visible along a band that crossed Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and much of western and central Asia, although clouds were present at almost every event. The Arabian Peninsula was a bit luckier, managing to capture the eclipse, at least partially.

However, hundreds of fans around the world tried to capture the moment, which will not be repeated in our country until December 2028.

"I haven't lost faith," said Toni Cladera, astrophotographer and co-founder of Photopills, during the gathering in front of the Favaritx lighthouse, where some thirty people gathered to try to photograph the event. "But you don't take photos from the couch."

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes exactly between the Sun and our natural satellite. Its shadow gradually covers the lunar surface. But it's not completely extinguished: sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, which filters out the shorter wavelengths and lets the reddish and orange hues through. It's these refracted and softened hues that give the Moon the color of blood.

The intensity of red varies depending on the amount of dust, humidity or pollution in the atmosphere.

Still, all fans are eagerly awaiting the trio of solar eclipses that will occur in 2026, 2027, and 2028. Sky conditions such as cloud cover will not be as decisive then, as our star's brightness will be harder to eclipse than that of the faint Moon.