Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
No!
It’s the Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse!
What a mouthful.
This phenomenon will be appearing in our evening skies on 26 May on Vesak Day, so be sure to keep a lookout for it.
But what exactly is this “Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse”?
Let’s break down some of the familiar terms you see in that phrase.
What is It?
A Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse is when a supermoon and total lunar eclipse coincide.
Let’s start with the supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the full moon is at the point that is closest to the earth—called a perigee.
If the word “supermoon” sounds familiar to you, you might be thinking of the “Pink Moon”, which was 2021’s first supermoon.
According to Forbes, this particular supermoon is the largest full moon of the year and will be as close as 357,311 km away from Earth a few hours before the eclipse.
But all these big numbers are just not comprehensible to us who suck at Math. In normal terms, the moon will appear about 8% larger than usual!
What about the “Flower” part in its name? Will the moon change its shape?
Unfortunately, no. There will be no flower appearing on the moon, neither is it a sign that you’ll be receiving flowers from your crush anytime soon (darn).
The title of the flower is simply a traditional name for May’s full moon—occurring during springtime!
Springtime? What’s that? (*Cries in Singaporean*)
As for the last three words (the “Blood Moon Eclipse”), they are referring to the colour of the moon during a total lunar eclipse!
According to NASA, the moon will pass through the earth’s shadow, causing it to darken and become reddish. This is because the moon reflects the sunlight filtering through the earth’s atmosphere—a ring of light caused by all sunsets and sunrises happening around the planet—which causes the blood-like colour.
Where to View It
Both NASA and Forbes note that those living in the Pacific Rim (no, not the movie)—a.k.a. the western parts of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, and Eastern Asia—will get to view the eclipse in its entirety.
Another great thing is that, unlike solar eclipses, you don’t need any special protection to view lunar eclipses! Yay!
Sadly, while it’s visible to the naked eye, Stargazing Singapore notes that whether the event will be visible is at the mercy of the weather, which has been rather gloomy these days.
The blood moon will be visible at the low horizon and it can be viewed from anywhere in Singapore with an unblocked view of the low East South Eastern horizon onwards.
According to their Facebook post, the best viewing time would be from 7:25pm to 8:52pm, with the reddish colour leaving the moon from 7:25pm onwards.
The full eclipse will begin at 7:11pm and the maximum eclipse will occur at 7:18pm. Do note that the moon will be low on the horizon at this time so for us HDB dwellers, we might have to find an unblocked view to witness the event.
The organisation will not be holding any observation event due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“We advise and urge everyone to adhere to the tightened COVID-19 regulations when observing the eclipse at your locations. Stay safe!”
Do try to catch this phenomenon from your windows or stick to two people if you’re going outside. Happy Super-Flower-Blood-Moon-Eclipse viewing!
Feature Image: Chris Harwood / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purposes only)
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