Tonight, beginning at around 10.30pm (EDT), you will be able to watch a full lunar eclipse. On May 15th the sun, moon and Earth will align. Between 10.30pm and 2am the Earth will move between the sun and the full moon and as a result the Earth's shadow will pass across the surface of the moon. As the Earth's shadow passes over the moon it will cause the moon to have a reddish hue. This is why a lunar eclipse is also called a blood moon. At the moment the moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit. Therefore the moon appears in the night sky at its biggest and brightest. This is known as a supermoon.
The lunar eclipse will be visible in the USA on Sunday evening and before dawn Monday morning in most of Europe (in London the partial eclipse will start at 3.27am). You can find out when you can view the lunar eclipse at your location on Time and Date. Enter a location into Time and Date and you can view an animation of the full lunar eclipse, revealing the times when the penumbral, partial and full eclipses start and when the full, partial and penumbral eclipses end.Time and Date also shows you the time of the maximum eclipse at your location.
Time and Date has provided information on the direction and altitude of the moon in the night sky. In the USA, if the sky is clear and free of clouds, you shouldn't have too much trouble viewing the eclipse. In you live in the UK, because of the moon's very low position in the sky, your best chance of seeing the eclipse will be from a high altitude such as a tall building or from the top of a hill.
No comments:
Post a Comment