A sharp-eyed observer will notice that one side of the full Moon’s disk looks a little dusky. If the Moon ventures just partly into the umbra, as pictured here, only the partial phases occur - you’ll see some of the Moon in nearly full sunlight, and some of it steeped in the deep, red-tinged umbral shadow.Īnd if its disk passes just outside the umbra, the Moon still encounters the weak penumbral shadow cast by Earth. That was the case during the widely viewed event in September 2015, which marked the conclusion of a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses! Such eclipse tetrads are not common - the last one occurred during 2003–04, but the next won’t begin until 2032. If the Moon goes all the way in, we see a total lunar eclipse that’s preceded and followed by partial phases. Three types of lunar eclipse are possible ( total, partial, and penumbral), depending on how deeply the full Moon plunges into or near the umbra, our planet’s dark, central shadow.Ī long-exposure image captured red hues on the portion of the Moon inside the umbra during the lunar eclipse on October 8, 2014. So since the last eclipse of 2022 occurred in early November, the first eclipse of 2023 doesn’t take place until April 20th. (The technical name for that, by the way, is syzygy.) And, as the diagram above implies, those alignments occur roughly a half year apart. These alignments don’t happen at every new and full Moon because the lunar orbit is tipped about 5° to Earth’s orbital plane - only occasionally do the Sun, Earth, and Moon line up exactly enough for an eclipse to occur. in August 2017, occurs only at new Moon, when the lunar disk passes directly between us and the Sun and consequently the Moon’s shadow falls somewhere on Earth’s surface.Ĭonversely, a lunar eclipse takes place during full Moon, when our satellite passes through Earth’s shadow. Eclipse “windows” occur six months apart.īefore describing this year’s individual events, let’s explore some eclipse basics.Ī solar eclipse, such as the one seen coast to coast across the U.S. On the West Coast, the moon will rise when totality is already underway, so the best views will be to the southeast.Eclipses of the Sun or Moon can only occur when the Moon crosses the plane of Earth's orbit (orange circle) very close to the time of new or full Moon. will see the eclipse begin with the moon well above the horizon, while those in the central part of the country will see it start about an hour and a half after dark. Eclipse visibility map for the May 15-16, 2022 total lunar eclipse.Īccording to NASA, viewers in the Eastern U.S. Totality, when the moon is fully covered by our planet's shadow, follows around midnight, lasting about an hour and a half. ET on May 15, NASA says, when the moon enters Earth's shadow. The visible part of the eclipse will begin around 10:30 p.m. Unlike a solar eclipse, which requires special glasses in order to prevent eye damage, a lunar eclipse is safe to view with the naked eye - but binoculars or a telescope would also enhance the viewing experience. It has also been called the corn planting moon and the milk moon. It's also the flower moon, one of the names given to May's full moon due to the abundance of flowers associated with spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
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