New Zealand's night sky will be graced with a once in 800 years spectacle tonight.

Starting around 8pm, the full-moon will begin to glow red as it's covered in an almost total lunar eclipse.

Just after 10pm, the moon will be about 97 percent covered.

Stardome educator Josh Kirkley told Andrew Dickens the moon will be in one of it's furthest points from us.

“So the moon itself is gonna be slightly smaller, which might sound disappointing, but it actually means that the actual eclipse itself is gonna last longer.”

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