Updated with weather forecast.

CLARKSVILLE, TN (AP) — A total lunar eclipse will grace the skies tonight, providing longer than usual thrills for stargazers.

The celestial action unfolds Sunday night into early Monday morning, with the moon bathed in the reflected red and orange hues of Earth’s sunsets and sunrises for about 1 1/2 hours, one of the longest totalities of the decade. It will be the first so-called blood moon in a year.

According to NASA, the moon will start entering the Earth’s partial shadow shortly after 8:30 p.m. CT on Sunday night. You’ll be able to see a slight darkening of the Moon at around 9:28 p.m. The Earth’s full shadow will cover the Moon an hour later.

The eclipse will peak at 11:11 p.m. CT Sunday. NASA says the Moon will start leaving the Earth’s shadow at 11:54 p.m. and emerge completely at 12:55 a.m.

Unfortunately, there’s a possibility the moon won’t be visible in Montgomery County. There’s a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight.

If the skies are clear, you can observe lunar eclipses without protective equipment. You will get a much better view looking with binoculars or, better yet, a telescope.

Observers in the eastern half of North America and all of Central and South America will have prime seats for the whole show, weather permitting. Partial stages of the eclipse will be visible across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Left out: Alaska, Asia and Australia.

“This is really an eclipse for the Americas,” said NASA’s Noah Petro, a planetary geologist who specializes in the moon. “It’s going to be a treat.”

All you need, he noted, are “patience and eyeballs.”

A total eclipse occurs when Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun, and casts a shadow on our constant, cosmic companion. The moon will be 225,000 miles (362,000 kilometers) away at the peak of the eclipse — around midnight on the U.S. East Coast.

“This is this gradual, slow, wonderful event that as long as it’s clear where you are, you get to see it,” Petro said.

The eclipse will peak at 11:11 p.m. CT Sunday. An earlier version had the incorrect time. The article has been updated.