Eclipse fever will hit North and East Yorkshire again next week as the sun, Earth and moon line up once more for their celestial show.

Unlike August's event - a solar eclipse - Friday's morning's display will see the Earth throw its shadow across the moon - a lunar eclipse.

"It's a wonderful thing to see," said Martin Lunn, curator of astronomy at the Yorkshire Museum.

"And if you look at the eclipse, you will be recreating an experiment carried out by the ancient Greek thousands of years ago which proved the earth was round."

Mr Lunn said the lunar eclipse, where the earth is lined up between the sun and the moon, is astronomically less important than a solar eclipse, but still provides an impressive show.

He said: "Depending on the condition of the earth's atmosphere, the moon could appear to us to be anything from a copper red colour to an inky blue, and it's a dynamic and spectacular sight."

Scientists will be watching the eclipse with interest to see which colour the moon turns.

If it is on the red end of the spectrum, the earth's atmosphere is relatively free of particles and pollution. But a blue moon will be seen if there has been volcanic activity or a significant forest fire somewhere in the world.

The change in colour is caused by the way the atmosphere bends light from the sun.

Mr Lunn said that, weather permitting, the eclipse would be visible from any back garden, but that getting away from the city lights would give a better view of the event. If you want to view the blue moon, but don't want to be standing alone, there will be an eclipse viewing party, complete with telescopes, in the Dalby Forest, near Pickering.

Moon watchers should meet at the Dalby Forest Visitor Centre from 2.30am. Admission is £2 and you can bring along your own food for a barbecue.

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