The Westmont Observatory opens to the public for a rare lunar eclipse in the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 3. This will be the last total eclipse that will be visible in Santa Barbara for at least the next three years.

The observatory will open at 3 a.m. and remain available until about 5 a.m. when the moon dips below the horizon.

March’s full moon, named a worm moon, will slowly turn into a blood moon, as the Earth’s shadow completely covers the moon, filtering sunlight through our atmosphere and turning the lunar surface deep red or coppery brown.

The eclipse event begins at 12:44 a.m. with totality beginning at 3:04 a.m. Totality will last for 58 minutes, and the eclipse event ends at 6:23 a.m.

“My recommendation would be to come out between 3:30-4 a.m. to see totality and then watch the moon pass out of the Earth’s shadow,” said Jennifer Gee, assistant professor of physics and director of the Westmont Observatory.

“If you happen to find yourself wide awake early in the morning, please come out and join me in marveling at the way God created our solar system,” she said.

The observatory, which houses the powerful Keck Telescope, a 24-inch F/8 Cassegrain reflecting instrument with Ritchey-Chretien optics, reopens to the public Friday, March, 20, beginning at sunset and lasting several hours.