| Translate This News In |
|---|
A number of astronomical phenomena collided at the same time, resulting in the long name. The full lunar eclipse will be visible in many parts of the world, including the western United States, and the supermoon will be visible everywhere.
Early risers in the United States can see a spectacular view of the moon before sunrise on Wednesday morning, but what you can see will vary greatly depending on where you live.
The moon’s orbit around the Earth is an oval rather than a perfect circle, which is why it’s “super.” A supermoon, or perigee-syzygy, is a full moon that appears larger than usual in the sky when it reaches the point on its elliptical orbit closest to our planet.
Flower moons are full moons that happen in May. The name derives from Native American, Colonial American, and European sources, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, and refers to the flowers that bloom in May.
The moon will appear blood red on Wednesday morning as it aligns with the sun and Earth and passes completely into Earth’s shadow or umbra. The total lunar eclipse will be the first since 2019. According to NASA, the moon’s red colour is caused by red-orange light refracted through Earth’s atmosphere, which can appear even redder if Earth’s atmosphere contains more clouds or dust.
The fact that a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse will both be visible at the same time is the highlight of this celestial event. There have only been nine total lunar eclipses in the past ten years. Supermoons are more frequent, occurring several times per year on average.
How to see it: Fortunately, as long as the sky is clear where you are, anyone can see the supermoon, according to NASA.
It’s another story whether you’ll be able to see the total lunar eclipse, when the moon turns blood red.
The total lunar eclipse will begin around 7:11 a.m. Eastern time (that’s 5:11 a.m. Mountain time and 4:11 a.m. on the West Coast), and will be visible to stargazers in the western United States and Canada, as well as most of Central and South America.
It will take about 15 minutes for a total lunar eclipse to occur.
The full blood moon will not be visible from the East Coast, but a partial lunar eclipse will be visible from around 5:45 a.m. ET. New England, as well as parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, will be oblivious to it.
Check out this NASA animation to see when the eclipse will be visible near you:
“You only need your eyes to see the drama unfold,” said Diana Hannikainen, observing editor at Sky & Telescope. “If you have binoculars or a backyard telescope, they’ll give you a much-enhanced view.”
Several livestreams from observatories and astronomers around the world will be available if you can’t see the full Super Flower Blood Moon in person.
Those who miss the eclipse on Wednesday shouldn’t worry, Hannikainen said, because another one will be visible the night of Nov. 18 to 19.
“Technically, the November event will be partial, but only the tiniest sliver of the Moon’s disc will remain outside the umbra,” she said in a statement.
Later this week, there’s another event to keep an eye out for. On May 28, you can see Venus and Mercury converge just above the western horizon, according to Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia.
“Then there’s the red planet of our solar system, Mars,” Pitts says, pointing above Venus and a little further south. “As a result, you can see three planets in the evening sky at the same time.”
