Stargazers across Australia were in an ideal position to view a rare total lunar eclipse late last night, which turned the moon red.

The astronomical event known as a “blood moon” occurs when the sun, moon and Earth align, with the colour a result of sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere.

Tonight’s eclipse will be the shortest of the century, with the moon expected to move completely into the Earth’s shadow for only about 10 minutes.

But Andrew Smith, an astronomer at Sydney Observatory, said some sources indicated it could last for around five minutes, making it the shortest since 1592.

“There are a couple of different ways of measuring eclipses,” he said.

“Some sources indicate it will be around 10 minutes of totality, which will make it the shortest since 1917, but other sources say it will be less than five minutes, which makes it the shortest since 1592.”

The blood moon will be the third in a series of four eclipses — known as a “tetrad”.

The first eclipse occurred in April last year and the second occurred in September.

The final eclipse of the series is expected to take place in September this year.

Ian Musgrave from the Astro-Blog website says the eclipse will provide prime conditions for stargazing and Jupiter and Saturn will also be visible.

“All the steps leading up to the totality will be very beautiful as well, especially in the last sections where you’ve got this very thin crescent of the moon with the rest of the moon in darkness and as the eclipse goes on the sky gets darker and darker and you’ll be able to see the stars start popping out,” he said.

“To the left of the moon you’ll have bright Jupiter, to the right of the moon and just coming up above the horizon you’ll be able to see the constellation of the scorpion which has Saturn currently at the head of the scorpion so it’s going to be very, very beautiful.”

Astronomer Owen Bennedick from the Wappa Falls Observatory seconded Mr Musgrave’s claims.

“It is quite spectacular and because it lasts such a long time you can see the actual moon travelling around the Earth so you can see the moon travel into the Earth’s shadow and then back out of the Earth’s shadow,” Mr Bennedick said.

The entire process will begin around 8:00pm (AEST), with the moon becoming noticeably red at 9:15pm. The full eclipse will then occur at 10pm, when the moon will appear completely red.

It will be the last total lunar eclipse visible from Earth until 2018.