Heads up all you night sky enthusiast, bust out the binos and telescopes, according to NASA the most spectacular super moon of 2021 is set to appear in the sky on Wednesday, May 26th. A regular super moon is when the moon is closest to earth during a calendar year. A blood moon occurs during a total lunar eclipse, when the Earth is directly between the moon and the sun, obscuring the moon from sunlight. It gets its macabre named from its red glow. NASA’s statement:
When this happens, the only light that reaches the moon’s surface is from the edges of the Earth’s atmosphere. The air molecules from Earth’s atmosphere scatter out most of the blue light. The remaining light reflects onto the moon’s surface with a red glow, making the moon appear red in the night sky.
The celestial phenomena will be least partly visible anywhere on the night side of the planet, the lunar eclipse itself will last approximately 15 minutes. Make a plan for next Wednesday and hopefully the weather will cooperate. More from NASA HERE.
To wet your whistle watch this NASA Telescope footage of a Blood Moon from back in 2018:
images from ABC