Lunar Eclipse 2021: Know all about the Blood Moon or total Lunar Eclipse on May 26
Lunar Eclipse 2021: A rare Super Blood Moon will be seen in the eastern sky on May 26, just after a total the Lunar Eclipse. The total Lunar Eclipsewill be visible mostly from Eastern Asia, Pacific Ocean, most parts of North and South America and Australia. For most of us in India, the moon will be below the eastern horizon during the total Lunar Eclipse and so people will not be able to view the Blood Moon. Those living in eastern India will see only the very last part of the Lunar Eclipse, very close to the eastern horizon, just before moonrise.
“On the night of May 26, the sun, earth and moon will be aligned in a way that the Full Moon will also be eclipsed for some time as viewed from Kolkata. The moon on its journey around the earth will be passing through the earth’s shadow and will be totally eclipsed,” said astrophysicist and Director of MP Birla Planetarium, Debiprasad Duari. The partial eclipse of the moon will start at around 3:15 pm and end at 6:22 pm in Kolkata.
Super Blood Moon: Here is your 10-point guide
- A Full Moon is called a supermoon when it is closest to the Earth in its orbit. This usually happens once a year.
- The totally eclipsed moon will appear reddish in colour, hence the name Blood Moon
- “The eclipsed moon is dimly illuminated by red-orange light left over from all of the sunsets and sunrises occurring around the world at that time”: NASA
- “The more dust or clouds in Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the moon will appear”: NASA
- A brighter and bigger Full Moon can be seen on May 26
- At perigee (closest to the earth) a Full Moon looks 30 per cent bigger and 14 per cent brighter than an average Full Moon
- The moon will be at its perigee exactly at around 7:23 pm, at a distance of 3,57,309 km from the Earth
- Like all Full Moons, the supermoon rises in the east around sunset and sets in the west around sunrise
- The May Full Moon is also called a Flower Moon because it happens during the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere
- The next total Lunar Eclipse will occur on May 16, 2022, but, it will not be visible from the Indian subcontinent but the Lunar Eclipse of November 8, 2022 will be seen from India.