A total lunar eclipse happens when the earth’s natural satellite moves to the deeper umbra of the earth’s shadow. The eclipse on May 16, 2022, will be visible from the earth’s regions including America, Europe, Africa, Antarctica, and east Pacific.
During this eclipse, the moon will be positioned in the lighter penumbral shadow from the earth and hence what will result is a Blood Moon eclipse.
The peak of the blood moon eclipse will be seen around 12:11 am (EDT) or 4:11 (GMT) on May 16. The partial eclipse will start at 10:28 pm (EDT) on May 15 or 02:28 (GMT) on May 16. The event will end at 1:55 am (EDT) or 5:55 (GMT). The penumbral phase of the eclipse will start an hour before the start of the partial eclipse and will close around an hour after the end of the partial eclipse.
The lunar eclipse on May 16, happens 1.5 days before the moon comes to the perigee, the point closest to the earth from the moon. Therefore during the time of eclipse, the moon will appear relatively larger in the sky when seen from the earth. Therefore, this moon is known as the ‘supermoon’. During the eclipse on May 15-16, the moon will be seen positioned in the constellation of Libra.
In the catalogue of lunar eclipses, this eclipse is categorized as Saros 131. This series consists of 72 eclipses among which, the number of this eclipse is 34. In the Saros 131 series, all the eclipses happen at the descending node of the moon. With every next eclipse in this series, the moon will be seen moving northward with respect to this node.
The full moon in May is known as super moon as the natural satellite of the earth will be closest to the planet. In the next one or two days after the eclipse, people living in the coastal areas can expect high tides in the sea that are higher than the regular ones. These kinds of tides are known as perigean spring tides.
These days, we also see the trend of close full moons as being called super moons. The high tides they cause are known as supermoon tides.
The second and the last lunar eclipse in 2022 will happen on November 8, 2022. At least a partial view of this eclipse can be had from regions including Asia, Australia, North America, and some parts of eastern and northern Europe in addition to most of South America and the Arctic.