The Blood Moon will rise on the night of May 15, and it will be the longest total lunar eclipse Canadians have seen in 15 years.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the sun, earth and moon are arranged so that the earth blocks the sun and its shadow falls directly on the face of the moon.
The night glow of the moon comes from the reflected light from the sun. During a lunar eclipse, when the moon crosses the earth’s tone – the fullest part of the earth’s shadow – its usually bright white glow will rust into a darker, redder color, giving it the unofficial name of Blood Moon. Slightly more than a third of all lunar eclipses are total.
According to NASA, the moon will begin to pass into the Earth’s shadow shortly after 10 pm (EDT) on May 15, but will enter the tan around 11 pm, marking the beginning of the eclipse.
As the moon passes into darkness during a partial eclipse, it will look to the naked eye as if parts of the moon are simply swallowed by the darkness – but once the moon is completely darkened, this darkness will become visible as a reddish tinge as our eyes adjust.
Around 11:30 pm (EDT) the moon will be entirely copper in color.
The Blood Moon will be in its greatest eclipse at 12:11 a.m. (EDT) on May 16 and will emerge from the darkness around 1 a.m. By 1:30 it would be only half an eclipse, and by 2:00 he had to escape completely from the shadow of the Earth.
This eclipse should be seen from coast to coast in Canada, although the exact elevation and eclipse vary by time zone.
An animated map made by NASA shows how the eclipse will progress as the Earth rotates, showing which regions of the Earth will be able to see the eclipse at which stage.
Those in eastern and central Canada will have a slightly better view – the moon will have already risen in the night sky when it begins to eclipse, which means that the eastern provinces will be able to monitor the progress of the total eclipse depending on the visibility associated with the weather that night.
But in the western provinces, the moon will rise as it begins to darken, making it harder to see while close to the horizon. Those in the northern parts of the Northwest Territories and the Yukon may only catch the tail of the eclipse or may not be able to see it if they are too far north.
The moon will be completely eclipsed in about 85 minutes or nearly an hour and a half. According to The Weather Network, this will be the longest total eclipse seen by Canada since 2007.
This eclipse also occurs when the moon is near perigee, NASA says, which means the moon appears seven percent larger than average. Perigee is the point in the moon’s orbit when it swings closest to our planet.
The next total lunar eclipse, visible in Canada, will occur in November 2022 and will be visible throughout the country.
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