Sunday, May 15
Tonight is the night: Experience the first of 2022’s two total lunar eclipses with a Super Flower Blood Moon.
That’s quite a mouthful, so let’s break it down. During a lunar eclipse, the Moon turns an orangey-red as it passes through Earth’s shadow. Hence, media outlets like to call it a Blood Moon — certainly an evocative term! Next, May’s Full Moon is also called the Flower Moon. Technically, the Moon won’t be officially Full until just after midnight (so, early on the morning of the 16th), but the eclipse is long enough that it will stretch well into the 16th, so we’re in the clear. And finally, a Super Moon occurs when the Moon is Full at or around the time it reaches perigee, or the closest point to Earth in its not-quite-circular orbit. That will occur just before noon EDT on the 17th, so within 36 hours of official Full Moon, still close enough to count. It also means the Moon will span nearly 33' on the sky during the eclipse — slightly larger than its average of 30' to 31'.
Now that we’ve gotten the name out of the way, what can you expect from this event? The eclipse occurs simultaneously everywehre, so what you see will depend on your location (i.e., the times of local sunset and moonrise). Note that the times we give in this column each week are for observers in the Midwest at a location of 40° N 90° W. Only observers on the East Coast will see the entire eclipse from start to finish in a dark sky; farther west, the Moon will rise with varying stages of the eclipse already underway and progressing as twilight darkens into night.
The eclipse begins at 9:32 P.M. EDT, when the Moon first moves into Earth’s penumbral, or outer, shadow. This should appear as a barely visible darker shading in the lunar south. The next stage begins when the Moon enters Earth’s darker umbral shadow at 10:27 P.M. EDT. By now, you’ll start to notice the lunar surface looks gray, with that “bloody” red or orange hue beginning to appear, particularly if you’re viewing with a telescope.
Totality begins at 11:29 P.M. EDT and lasts until 12:53 A.M. EDT on the 16th — that’s a full 85 minutes of totality. (Fun fact: 2022’s only other total lunar eclipse, which occurs in November, will also be exactly 85 minutes long!)
As totality ends, the eclipse will proceed in reverse: The Moon leaves the umbra at 1:55 A.M. EDT, then slips out of the penumbra at 2:51 A.M. EDT, bringing the event to a close (note that both these times are also early on Monday morning, May 16).
Sunrise: 5:45 A.M.
Sunset: 8:08 P.M.
Moonrise: 7:55 P.M.
Moonset: 5:22 A.M.
Moon Phase: Full
Monday, May 16
Following from yesterday’s entry, May 16th kicks off right in the middle of a total lunar eclipse — totality is underway for those in the eastern U.S. and will end shortly before 1 A.M. EDT. Before that, though, Full Moon officially occurs at 12:14 A.M. EDT.
While the Moon certainly takes center stage this morning, it’s not the only treat in the sky. By the time the last stages of the eclipse have ended, Saturn has appeared in the southeast. The ringed planet glows softly at magnitude 0.7 in eastern Capricornus, just under 2° north-northeast of 3rd-magnitude Deneb Algedi.
Through a telescope, Saturn shows off its 17"-wide disk, nestled within stunning rings that stretch more than twice that distance. The rings are currently tilted at 12° to our line of sight; although this will slightly increase later this year, the angle will then begin to diminish again as we head for a ring crossing in 2025. Also look for Titan, which shines around magnitude 8.7 — the large moon sits about 2' west of the center of the planet this morning. Several other, smaller moons cluster closer to Saturn, including 10th-magnitude Tethys, Dione, and Rhea (all east of the planet); and 12th-magnitude Enceladus (just northeast of the disk, above the rings).
Sunrise: 5:44 A.M.
Sunset: 8:09 P.M.
Moonrise: 9:14 P.M.
Moonset: 5: 57 A.M.
Moon Phase: Full