For the first time in more than 150 years, the West Coast will have the opportunity to see a blue moon turn red this week — assuming the weather cooperates.

The celestial show that NASA has dubbed a “super blue blood moon” is due to embellish the predawn sky on Wednesday, a rare convergence of three lunar spectacles: a blue moon, a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse.

While none of these events is particularly unusual on its own — and though the result will add up to little more than a glorified eclipse — scientists say the trifecta may be a once-in-a-lifetime affair in North America.

There’s little reason, they say, for Californians to miss out because some of the best viewing is on the western edge of the continent. Neither sky-watching glasses nor travel plans are required, unlike during last summer’s much-hyped solar eclipse.

“You don’t need any physical equipment to see it, and in most cases, you don’t have to move from your home,” said Andrew Fraknoi, emeritus astronomy professor at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. “It’s nice after all the exclusivity of the eclipse in August to have a more democratic eclipse happening in January.”

Astronomy lovers have come to appreciate each of the lunar events behind Wednesday’s show.

While a blue moon is no more blue than made of cheese, it represents a quirk in the calendar that gives rise to a second full moon in a single month. It occurs about every 2½ years.

A supermoon is only slightly more common, happening roughly every 14 months. It occurs when the moon is full while at or near its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit.

Unlike a blue moon, the phenomenon is visible, though only slightly. Supermoons appear about 7 percent larger than an average full moon and as much as 15 percent brighter, according to NASA.

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The total lunar eclipse, which occurs about every year or two, is the most palpable of the three events and at the center of Wednesday’s pageantry. It happens when the moon passes entirely into Earth’s shadow, becoming dark and even an eerie brownish red, or a blood moon, because of the way light passes into Earth’s atmosphere. The contrast may be heightened slightly by the supermoon.

Weather permitting, the uncommon eclipse will begin to take shape over San Francisco at about 3:48 a.m., with the total eclipse commencing at 4:51 a.m. The eclipse will peak at 5:29 a.m., with the total eclipse ceasing at 6:07 a.m. and the partial eclipse ending at 7:11 a.m.

“Unlike the eclipse of the sun, you don’t have to rush out at a certain time, and if you sneeze you miss it,” Fraknoi said.

The longer span, Fraknoi noted, also means people have a better chance of seeing the eclipse if clouds are threatening. He recommends finding a dark spot with a view of the western horizon, where the convergence will unfold.

The last time a total lunar eclipse aligned with a blue moon in the Americas was in 1866. The next time will be in 2028.

As much as the affair promises to please stargazers, it’s more than a good show to scientists.

Rick Elphic, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, is part of a group studying the moon using instruments aboard the spacecraft called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The rapid change in temperature that will occur on the moon when it slips into and out of Earth’s shadow Wednesday will allow Elphic’s team to leverage heat-sensing equipment to gain a better understanding of the moon’s surface.

During NASA’s Apollo missions, scientists found that the moon’s rocky covering, called regolith, was “fluffy” and not very supportive in the lower latitudes, Elphic said. But the information was limited.

“One place we never visited with the Apollo are the poles of the moon,” he said. “We think that the polar regolith may have different density characteristics.”

Knowledge of the surface, Elphic said, will make it easier for NASA to land future spacecraft on the moon as well as piece together the unknown physics of the distant globe.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander