Photo by Mark Tegethoff on Unsplash

The first of two lunar eclipses in 2022 will be this Sunday. No special equipment is needed to watch the beautiful spectacle in the sky. We just need the weather to cooperate.

May’s Full Moon will reach its peak illumination at 12:15 AM on Monday, May 16. The Full Moon is also a supermoon and coincides with a total lunar eclipse. Yeah, a lot is going on.

The Farmers Almanac tells us a supermoon is any Full Moon that occurs when the Moon is at least 90% of perigee (the point in the Moon’s orbit where it is closest to Earth). We will see four supermoons in 2022.

This month’s Full Moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse! A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth stands directly between the Moon and the Sun, which results in Earth casting its shadow on the Moon. During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon is fully obscured by Earth’s shadow, giving the Moon a reddish hue. This phenomenon is where the term “blood moon” comes from. [Farmers Almanac]

The entire event starts Sunday at 9:31 PM and continues through Monday until 2:52 AM. Right now, Weather.com tells us rain is in the extended forecast, but it’s too far away for us to predict a washout. If the weather cooperates and you get some nice pictures, please send them to Cindy@7mountainsmedia.com, and she will share them with 3WZ listeners.

The next lunar eclipse will occur on November 8, 2022.

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