Hot on the heels of the first solar eclipse of the year – a partial eclipse on April 30 – a total lunar eclipse is on the horizon.
Between the late evening of May 15 and the early morning of May 16, depending on your time zone, the full color moon will enter the Earth’s shadow, causing a total lunar eclipse that will be visible in most of America and Antarctica. the western parts of Europe and Africa and the eastern Pacific. Sky watchers in New Zealand, Eastern Europe and the Middle East will experience a semi-shadow eclipse, during which only the edge of the Earth’s shadow falls over the moon.
According to TimeandDate.com, the partial eclipse will begin on May 15 at 22:28 EDT (02:28 GMT on May 16), reaching its maximum on May 16 at 12:11 EDT (04:11 GMT). This total eclipse effect can give the moon a reddish tinge known as the Blood Moon. It will end at 1:55 p.m. EDT (0555 GMT). The eclipse will begin about an hour earlier and will end about an hour after the partial eclipse.
Related: Lunar eclipses: what are they and when is the next one?
Lunar eclipses always occur during full moons. Full moons occur when the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun – then the sun illuminates the entire face of the moon, as seen from the Earth’s point of view. Because the Moon’s orbit is tilted about 5 degrees from Earth’s orbit, the Moon usually avoids Earth’s shadow; lunar eclipse occurs when it does not.
There are three types of lunar eclipses: partial, partial and total. In a semi-dark eclipse, the moon passes through the outer part of The Earth‘s shadow, which is quite diffuse, so there is only a slight darkening of the moon’s surface. A partial eclipse is when part of the moon enters the darkest shadow on Earth, or dungeon, causing a significant darkening of part of the moon.
And a total eclipse, as might be expected, is when the entire moon enters the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow. A total eclipse will also include both partial and partial phases as the moon makes its way into the darkness. The upcoming lunar eclipse on May 15-16 will be a total lunar eclipse, although some places will miss stages while the sun is above the horizon.
During a total lunar eclipse the moon often it looks blood red. This is because the light from the sun is refracted around the Earth as if the planet were a prism; the light waves are stretched so that they appear on the redder side of the spectrum when they reach the moon. The color is also influenced by the state of Earth’s atmosphere; The moon may look more orange or golden, depending on the amount of dust, cloud cover or volcanic ash in the air.
If you miss this total solar eclipse, don’t worry – something else will happen later this year on November 8th. This will be visible in North and South America, Oceania and Asia.
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