Lunar Eclipse Photos: See the Super Flower Blood Moon Up Close
The Moon #TheMoon
Photos of the total lunar eclipse that took place overnight on Tuesday show the moon bathed in an eerie reddish glow, as it passed through Earth’s shadow.
Enthusiastic skywatchers had dubbed the eclipse the super flower blood moon because it simultaneously combined three lunar phenomena: a supermoon, a total lunar eclipse and a blood moon. As a supermoon, the moon appears up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter in the sky, as the natural satellite’s orbit brings it closest to Earth, compared with when the moon is most distant from Earth. The moon will also pass entirely within Earth’s shadow—an eclipse—and because of the light filtered through Earth’s atmosphere during this event will turn a reddish hue—a blood moon.
In areas with clear weather, the eclipse was visible across western North and South America, as the moon was setting in the early morning hours; and across Oceania, Australia and eastern Asia during moonrise in the evening. It was the first total lunar eclipse since 2019.
The moon was completely shadowed by Earth for almost 15 minutes.
The moon set over Stonehenge near Amesbury, southern England. Photo: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images A yacht sailed past as the moon rose in Sydney. Photo: Mark Baker/Associated Press A supermoon, seen here from Brasilia, Brazil, appears much bigger and brighter in the sky. Photo: Eraldo Peres/Associated Press A view of the moon rising over Skopje, North Macedonia. Photo: georgi licovski/Shutterstock The full moon seen during the partial eclipse in Auckland. Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images A man leaves after fishing in the Missouri River. Photo: Charlie Riedel/Associated Press
In folklore, the full moon in May is known as the flower moon because it occurs as spring blossoms in the Northern Hemisphere. The Farmer’s Almanac popularized the term, attributing it to the Algonquin people of North America. The almanac notes that other Native American cultures have traditional names for May’s full moon, including the leaf-budding moon, egg-laying moon and frog moon.
Lunar eclipses naturally occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sunlight that normally illuminates the moon’s grayish-white cratered surface.
The next total lunar eclipse will occur on May 16, 2022, when once more a distinctive blood moon will glow in the night sky.
A super flower moon rose through low clouds above San Diego. Photo: mike blake/Reuters
Write to Robert Lee Hotz at sciencejournal@wsj.com
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