From Thursday night into Friday morning, Earth’s shadow will swallow the moon, transforming the usually pearly orb into a striking red sphere.

It’s the first total lunar eclipse in more than two years. Also known as a blood moon, the event will be most visible across the Americas, western parts of Africa and Europe, New Zealand and some of Russia.

“It’s a lovely sight to see in the night sky,” said Amanda Bosh, the executive director of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, who has seen more than 20 lunar eclipses in her lifetime.

“I love seeing the solar system, the universe, at work,” she added.

What is a total lunar eclipse?

A lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, Earth and moon align, in that order. There are different types of lunar eclipses that depend on how deeply the moon crosses into Earth’s shadow, which is divided into an outer part, the penumbra and the umbra, the innermost section.

A total lunar eclipse, when the entire moon slips into the umbra, is by far the most dramatic variety. Earth’s shadow envelops the face of the moon, causing it to shine scarlet. This happens because sunlight spilling over the edges of Earth and lighting up the lunar surface must first travel through our atmosphere, which more readily scatters blue wavelengths of light. Redder wavelengths pass through, creating the blood-moon effect.

According to Dr. Bosh, the exact shade of red during a lunar eclipse can vary. Clouds and recent natural disasters — like dust storms or volcanic eruptions, which leave particles in the air — can make the moon appear more crimson.

Less visually striking is a penumbral eclipse, when the moon grazes through the outer part of Earth’s shadow. This causes the moon to dim so slightly that it can be difficult to notice.

When only a portion of the moon recedes into the innermost umbra, it creates a partial eclipse, which looks like a bite has been taken out of the lunar surface.

When will this eclipse occur?

There are several phases of a total lunar eclipse. According to the United States Naval Observatory, the event will occur over about six hours across Thursday and Friday.

The moon will begin to creep into Earth’s penumbra at around 11:56 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. At 1:09 a.m. on Friday, the moon will enter the umbra, during which a growing portion of its surface will be obscured from view. According to Dr. Bosh, the moon will appear more red as the partial phase elapses.

Totality, when the entirety of the moon is engulfed in the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, occurs at 2:25 a.m. and lasts for just over an hour.

Then the lunar surface will begin to brighten white again as the moon glides out of the umbra, a phase that lasts until 4:48 a.m. Eastern time. The final leg of its journey, through the penumbra, finishes at 6:01 a.m.

How can I see the eclipse?

Anyone on the night side of Earth will have the opportunity to see the lunar eclipse, but how much you can see depends on your location.

Skywatchers in most of North America and the western half of South America can witness the entire event. But in other places, people may just catch the eclipsed moon rising or setting in the sky.

No special equipment is needed for this cosmic sight. “It’ll look just as beautiful with your eyes” than it would through a telescope, said Dylan Short, a telescope specialist at Lowell Observatory. Decent photographs can be taken with a cellphone, he said, or with a simple D.S.L.R. camera that uses a lens with a long focal length. Images of the moon can also be captured through the eyepiece of a telescope.

In many cities, local stargazing groups and planetariums are hosting watch parties. Another option is to view a live broadcast of the lunar eclipse online.

Will weather affect my viewing?

Although a winter storm is barreling across the United States, forecasters say sky viewers have a shot at seeing the eclipse in several areas, including portions of Florida, the central and southern Plains, West and South Texas, the Ohio Valley into the Appalachian Mountains, and a sliver of the desert Southwest.

But in other parts of the country, including the East and West Coasts, clear views may be more difficult to come by.

If you do see clouds in the sky during the eclipse, keep in mind that the event unfolds over several hours. It may be worth looking again later, especially if those clouds are thin or seem to be moving.

When will the next eclipse occur?

Lunar eclipses can happen several times a year, though not all of them reach totality. According to NASA, the next total lunar eclipse will occur in September, most visible in Asia and parts of Europe, Africa and Australia.

There will be another total lunar eclipse next March, followed by a partial lunar eclipse later in August.

Lunar eclipses also occur paired with solar eclipses. On March 29, this lunar eclipse’s partner, a partial solar eclipse, will be visible in parts of North America and Europe.

Amy Graff contributed reporting.

The Environmental Protection Agency said that it was canceling $20 billion in grants for climate and clean energy programs that have been frozen for weeks, a move that was labeled illegal by nonprofit groups that were supposed to receive the funds.

The money has been caught in an escalating controversy involving the E.P.A., the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Citibank, where the funds are being held and are now frozen, prompting lawsuits from three nonprofit groups.

The grants were issued to a total of eight nonprofit organizations through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which received $27 billion in funding from Congress through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

But since taking office, Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A.’s administrator, has tried to claw back the money, saying they were part of a “scheme” and citing as evidence a hidden-camera video from Project Veritas, a conservative group known for using covert recordings to embarrass its political opponents.

The E.P.A. can cancel the grant contracts if it can document examples of waste, fraud, and abuse by the grantees. But that hasn’t happened at this point.

Yesterday, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee launched an investigation into the E.P.A,’s freezing of the funds and what they said were Mr. Zeldin’s “false and misleading statements.”

Two of the nonprofit grant recipients, Climate United and the Coalition for Green Capital, said they will fight the cancellation. A court hearing on a related case is scheduled for Wednesday.

Here is what we know about the $20 billion in funding and how it became a target of the E.P.A.

How the controversy started

In February, Mr. Zeldin announced that he had found billions of dollars of “gold bars” of grant funding at Citibank, calling the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (or “green bank”) grant program a “scheme” and a “rush job with no oversight.”

Mr. Zeldin has embraced the Trump administration’s emphasis on spending cuts, touting his work with the Department of Government Efficiency. He has canceled scores of other E.P.A. contracts, totaling what the agency said is around $2 billion across more than 400 initiatives.

The “gold bars” comment was a reference to a video released in December by Project Veritas in which Brent Efron, then an E.P.A. employee, likened his agency’s efforts to spend federal funds on climate programs before leaving office to throwing “gold bars” off the Titanic.

Mr. Efron’s lawyer has denied his client was referring to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

After Mr. Zeldin’s statement, Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for Washington D.C., asked Denise Cheung, a top federal prosecutor, to freeze the $20 billion held by Citibank. But she abruptly resigned after determining there was not enough evidence to order the funds frozen. The F.B.I. and the Justice Department continued their investigations.

Last week, Mr. Zeldin also referred the matter to his agency’s acting inspector general for a third, concurrent investigation.

The nonprofit grant recipients began executing their legal defense this past weekend, when Climate United sued E.P.A. and Citibank, claiming they were illegally withholding the money. Two other recipients filed suits against Citibank in the following days.

A hearing on Climate United’s request for a temporary restraining order to release the funds was scheduled for Wednesday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

What the nonprofits are saying

The cancellations surprised Climate United, a nonprofit organization that was awarded nearly $7 billion, said Beth Bafford, the group’s chief executive officer. She said she received an official termination letter a half-hour before the agency issued a public statement.

The nonprofits have been unable to access the funds in their Citibank accounts since mid-February. The funds have been held there under an agreement between the E.P.A. and the bank.

Without the promised funds, some groups said they are struggling to pay staff.

In a termination letter viewed by The New York Times, the E.P.A. said it had identified “material deficiencies” in the program, including the absence of adequate oversight and improper or speculative allocation of funds. It did not provide any evidence.

The Coalition for Green Capital, one of the largest recipients, called the E.P.A.’s decision “unauthorized and unlawful,” and said it was considering legal options.

What we know about the $20 billion program

The $20 billion program was designed to offer low-cost loans to businesses and developers for climate initiatives, which include things like installing solar panels and retrofitting homes to make them more energy efficient.

The E.P.A. distributed the money to eight nonprofits, which planned to distribute the money as loans as well as grants to local “green banks’” or credit unions, which would in turn make their own loans.

The idea was that the commitment of federal dollars would attract private investments to green projects.

Mr. Zeldin has made much of the fact that $20 billion in grant money was held at Citibank, portraying the E.P.A.’s decision to use an outside financial institution as an intermediary as an attempt to subvert oversight.

Grant recipients and former E.P.A. officials have disputed this characterization, and said that the agency has full visibility into transactions through the Citibank accounts for the nonprofit organizations and their sub-recipients

It’s not clear how much of the $20 billion was spent before the freeze was put in place.

A spokeswoman for the E.P.A. said it could not answer how much of the money has been loaned out by the nonprofits because the funds were spent under the Biden administration.

Citibank did not respond to request for comment.