Super moon, blood moon and eclipse this weekend

[MichaelB]

Sunday the 15th we’ll have a chance to see a full lunar eclipse just when it is closest to the earth. Here’s a summary from CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/total-lunar-eclipse-may-15-how-to-watch-rare-super-flower-blood-moon/

A spectacular full moon is fast approaching, with plans to grace the night sky on Sunday night. It marks not only a supermoon, but also a blood moon — thanks to a lunar eclipse.
./.
The visible part of the eclipse will begin around 10:30 p.m. ET on May 15, NASA says, when the moon enters Earth's shadow. Totality, when the moon is fully covered by our planet's shadow, follows around midnight, lasting about an hour and a half.

 

[W2R]

Thanks for the heads up!

We have been having thunderstorms every evening lately, but if it's not raining and the skies clear up then we'll probably spend some time checking it out from our back yards.

 

[ERD50]

Thanks, I'll try to catch it. Forecast says PM showers, but cloud cover down from 90% to ~ 36~22% in the Midnight Hour.

And now, I have that Wilson Picket song in my head, which is OK, 'cause it's a good one!

Anyone ever notice the chords to that song are the same as the intro chords to Proud Mary?

-ERD50

 

[easysurfer]

If can't watch by looking up (clouds in the way), there is also a livestream ...

https://www.timeanddate.com/live/eclipse-lunar-2022-may-16

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I love watching lunar eclipses but I have to cringe at the media’s use of “super rare super flower blood moon, once in a lifetime, blah blah.” Admittedly, the link to CBS News didn’t include quite that much hype but a quick search would lead one to other sources that do.

Lunar eclipses are not all that rare, there being on average about two per year, although not all are total or visible from a given location. So called “super moons” happen two or three times per year when the moon happens to be full at perigee. The difference in apparent size won’t be noticeable to the casual or even experienced observer, but it does contribute to this being a fairly long eclipse. And I don’t recall hearing the term blood moon until 10 or 20 years ago. Sounds sexy, though.

But, let’s all do our clear sky dances, look up and enjoy one of the easiest astronomical phenomena to observe. If it’s clear, at least it won’t be freezing where I am anyway.

 

[Koolau]

As we have a small mountain blocking our view, we'll have to drive to the beach to see it. We've done that before for similar phenomenon. Of course, at sea level, we'll be almost assured of some clouds though unless we have a storm, the clouds will occasionally part for viewing (I hope.) YMMV

 

[street]

Just wondering if someone with some expertise with a camera going to take some photos. My cell phone maybe won't cut it.

 

[W2R]

It's almost fully eclipsed here. Not seeing any red, though. Local news media are saying that will happen in about a half hour.

It's so dark out there right now!

 

[ivinsfan]

I agree using a cell is tricky but I got a fun pic it was clear as bell and yes we got the red moon....was it dark in what they call the no light pollution sticksville.


I heard a coyote howling at the moon while I was outside for extra bonus spooky points.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I got lucky and got a break in the clouds during totality. The moon seemed fairly dark to me compared to other eclipses I’ve seen, more rust than blood colored. This is possibly due to material in the atmosphere from the recent large volcanic eruption in Tonga last January.

 

[Winemaker]

While our view of the eclipse was clear as a bell, my pics using my cell phone were underwhelming, to say the least. My pics were blurry, and the remaining brightness of the illuminated part of the moon was so bright that it was like taking a picture of someone with a flashlight. I should have played with the settings, but was gun shy, as I spent all day trying to recover everything on my phone. For some unknown reason, my phone went into lockdown Saturday night during a severe lightning/thunderstorm.

 

[easysurfer]

Clouds in the way for me. I ended up catching the livestream til totality then called it a night and went to bed.

Was hoping to get pictures, but better luck next time.

 

[Car-Guy]

Cloud cover earlier so I went to bed, set the alarm but then I was to lazy to get up.

 

[street]

Got to watch it from start till it was completely covered. I didn't stay up to see the blood colour or the exiting phases. Was interesting to see.

I remember I believe in 2016 when there was a total eclipse of the sun. That was very cool to see.

 

[Ronstar]

raining here, so I went to bed

 

[audreyh1]

I enjoyed that the eclipse started so early in the evening. Nice and clear here.

The moon rose a bit before sunset, and thus it rose into the belt of Venus and was a beautiful big pink color 15 mins after moonrise. This was before the eclipse started.

 

[Koolau]

Turned out timing was wrong though there was some after total though lots of clouds. Later, the full moon was stunning and bright. Lit the whole valley.

 

[swakyaby]

It was a smoky orange here in full eclipse on the west coast. Kinda spooky. I texted a friend in my same city, but she had trouble locating the moon since it was so dim. By the time she found it, the clouds obscured the eclipse for the duration. My cell phone picture was also underwhelming for detail, although the orange-reddish hue did come out.

 

[Dreamer]

We did not think that we would be able to see it because of clouds. However, we went out around 11:20 and were able to see it. Thanks for posting about this.

 

[swakyaby]

From my backyard

 

[swakyaby]

My brother’s backyard photo in southern Cal.

 

[MC Rider]

It was clear here and got a good look at it, but no good photos.

 

[Yoheadden]

Nice pics.
I thought I’d get a shot since I saw some stars, but only clouds in front of the moon.
Maybe next time :-/

 

[Koolau]

All this talk of blood moons reminds me of a late 50s horse opera (TV Western) I saw back then. The "good guys" get captured by some hostiles and they are about to be killed - probably slowly IIRC - but one of the guys has an almanac that indicates a blood moon that night. So the good guys make the hostiles think they have big medicine by causing a solar eclipse. Of course, one of the smarter hostiles points out that they've seen many such blood moons in the past. The even smarter good guy points out the he knew when this one would happen - and saves the day and the good guys' scalps. (Now you know why they're called horse operas though YMMV.)

 

[Sue J]

DH and I went out on the deck and watched it. The view as the shadow came over the moon was very good and then when it was totally covered I went to bed. Too many lights on in our neighborhood but it was nice and quiet.