On Sunday, look up in the sky and you will see the moon turn blood red. No, armageddon isn’t upon us; it’s a total lunar eclipse, when the earth’s shadow will fall over the moon as our planet comes between the sun and our closest neighbor and BFF in the solar system.
Long Islanders should be getting a good view of the eclipse.
The full moon in May is known as the Flower Moon, and it just so happens to coincide with a lunar eclipse happening on the night of May 15 into the early hours of May 16. According to timeanddate.com, the total lunar eclipse will begin around 12:11am on Monday, May 16 and end at 2:50am. The action will really begin a little earlier on Sunday, May 15 at around 10:30pm.
You can see an animation of the eclipse play out on the website here.
Why is it called a Blood Moon? During the eclipse, the moon doesn’t exactly disappear. It takes on a reddish color and because Tomato Moon doesn’t have the same cache people began calling it the Blood Moon. What happens is that the light hitting the moon’s surface is refracted by the earth’s atmosphere, meaning, like a prism or a rainbow, the light is scattered and because of the makeup of the gasses in our planet’s sky, only the red part of the spectrum makes it to the moon, illuminating it with that creepy hue. The earth gets in between the sun and the moon and acts like a filter of sorts.
Are you looking to photograph the Blood Moon? You’ll need a good camera, the best telephoto lens you can afford, a tripod, planning, and patience. For more detailed tips click here.
The lunar eclipse will be followed this month by a spectacular meteor shower at the end of the month. Although scientists are split on where the shpower will actually occur or not. Click here for a post about the comet that will cause the spectacular display, or not by News 12 meteorologist Joe Rao.