Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse 2021: How to see the Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse and Flower Supermoon in UAE

THERE ARE THREE AMAZING MOON EVENTS TONIGHT: There are three exciting celestial activities happening with the moon this May: the Flower Supermoon, the total lunar eclipse, and the related Blood Moon. These fascinating lunar events are a brilliant opportunity to teach kids more about the moon and our galaxy. Here's what you need to know...

HOW CAN I SEE THEM?: You will be able to see the incredible Flower Supermoon by looking up in the sky when night falls in the UAE this evening, but unfortunately neither the lunar eclipse nor the Blood Moon will be visible from our part of the world. However, there are still ways you can see them...

HOW CAN I SEE THE FLOWER SUPERMOON IN THE UAE?: The full Flower Supermoon can be seen from Wednesday 26 May 2021 in the UAE (and around the rest of the Earth). It will technically only be truly ‘full’ – when it’s located precisely on Earth’s opposite side from the Sun and therefore wholly illuminated - for about 15 minutes from 3.14pm in the UAE on 26 May, according to NASA, but it will still appear to be full when it becomes visible tonight and for two days afterwards.

WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THIS MOON? This moon is special because it is a type of Supermoon, meaning it appears larger in the sky than regular full moons do. This is the largest and brightest Supermoon of the year, and should look about 30% brighter and 14% larger than the full moons you are used to seeing.

WHAT IS A SUPERMOON? Supermoons are extra-large moons, which look bigger because they occur when the moon is at its closest point to the Earth on its orbit. This month’s Flower Moon is passing just 357,462 km away from Earth (it’s usually 384,400 km away) making it appear as the closet and largest Full Moon of the year.

WHAT CAUSES A SUPERMOON? When the Moon, the Earth and the Sun are all lined up together with the Earth between the Moon and Sun, sunlight shines on the whole moon’s surface and is reflected back to Earth. On Earth, this is what we know as a full Moon. But because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth isn’t a perfect circle, sometimes the moon is closer to the Earth than at other times. When the moon is at its closest point on its orbit to the Earth coincides with the celestial line-up that causes a full Moon, this is known as a Supermoon.

HOW DID THE FLOWER MOON GET ITS NAME? The poetic name for this type of moon stems back to Native American culture in the USA. Because this type of full moon occurs in May, it coincides with Spring in the Northern hemisphere, which is colourfully signaled in many parts of America by the emergence of spring flowers in abundance.

WHAT ABOUT THE BLOOD MOON? The Blood Moon is the nickname given to describe the rusty appearance of the moon during a total lunar eclipse, which is also happening on 26 May 2021. It’s been nearly two and a half years since the last total lunar eclipse.

WHAT IS A TOTAL LUNAR EXCLIPSE? A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes completely into and through the Earth’s dark shadow, or umbra, according to NASA. During this type of eclipse, the Moon will gradually get darker, taking on a rusty or blood-red color.

WHY DOES THE MOON LOOK ‘BLOODY’? At the moment of a total lunar eclipse, the Sun and Moon occupy precisely opposite positions on either side of the Earth. When the celestial bodies are aligned like this, the Earth blocks some of the Sun’s light from reaching the full moon. The sunlight that does make it to the moon passes through the atmosphere of the Earth, which filters the light through the red-orange hue left over from all of the sunsets and sunrises occurring around the world at that time, and gives the moon a rosy, or blood-red glow. NASA says that the more dust or clouds in Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the Moon will appear.

WHERE WILL THE BLOOD MOON BE VISIBLE? The total eclipse, or the time when the Moon is in deepest shadow, will last for about 15 minutes and is set to begin on May 26 2021 at 1.46am PDT – which is 12.46pm UAE time in the middle of the day. The total eclipse phase will be visible near moonset in the western United States and Canada, all of Mexico, most of Central America and Ecuador, western Peru, and southern Chile and Argentina. The eclipse can be seen in its entirety in eastern Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii.

HOW CAN I SEE THE TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE?: While we will not be able to see the total lunar eclipse happen directly, the good news is that because it’s happening in the middle of the UAE day, it’s the perfect time for kids (and adults) to be awake to watch it livestreamed from an area in the world where it is happening. There will be many free webcasts streaming the eclipse live from around 12.30pm UAE time – have a search for the European Space Agency’s webcast, which will also include live commentary from leading astronomers (https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/ESA_Web_TV), or you can see it via the Lowell Observatory (https://lowell.edu/how-to-view-the-2021-total-lunar-eclipse/) or the Griffith Observatory in the USA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyrCenUaUB0).

BY THE WAY, WHY CAN I SOMETIMES SEE THE MOON DURING THE DAY? According to NASA, because of the Earth's rotation, the moon is above the horizon roughly 12 hours out of every 24. Since those 12 hours almost never coincide with the roughly 12 hours of daylight in every 24 hours, the possible window for observing the moon in daylight averages about 6 hours a day. The Moon is up just as much during the day as it is at night, but you might not notice it as often because the Sun is also up. Also, because the moon phases that we usually see in daylight often only show a little bit of the moon’s bright side (eg crescent moons), it’s harder to see in the daylight when you don’t have the contrast against the darkness of night.

IS IT TRUE A FULL MOON CAN CHANGE PEOPLE'S MOODS? Have you ever noticed that people tend to behave differently around the full moon? From werewolf myths to theories about ‘lunatics’ (a word derived from the belief that lunar cycles affected people’s mental state), cultures all over the world have strong beliefs about the mysterious connection between the lunar cycle and human behaviour. While there is no strong scientific evidence to back this up, some studies have found a link between the full moon and changes in sleep patterns, blood pressure, as well as a link between lunar cycles and the behaviour of patients with bipolar disorder. However, the prevailing evidence shows there is no relationship between the moon and people’s moods. What do you think?