Grab some popcorn and join us for the first lunar eclipse in about a year where we will see the fiery super flower blood moon this Sunday night. Earth’s shadow will fully block the moon from a direct hit from the sun for about 85 minutes and turn the moon to a copper-red color. It’s the best part of this nearly three-hour and 27-minute journey through Earth’s umbra.
The May full moon is sometimes known as a flower moon in the Northern Hemisphere, a tribute to the colorful blooms that appear in early spring. So the May 15 eclipse may be called a super flower blood moon.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy) with Earth between the other two, which can happen only on the night of a full moon when the moon is near either lunar node. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon’s proximity to the lunar node.[citation needed]
The reddish color of the totally eclipsed Moon is caused by Earth completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the Moon, with the only light reflected from the lunar surface has been refracted by Earth’s atmosphere. This light appears reddish for the same reason that a sunset or sunrise does: the Rayleigh scattering of blue light.
Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly 2 hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only up to a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon’s shadow is smaller. Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions, as they are dimmer than the full Moon.
Thumbnail photo credits: NASA, some content from Wikipedia, NASA