Lunar Eclipse 2022: Blood Moon to be visible in these countries on May 15-16; read to know

Residents of countries in the western hemisphere will be lucky enough to witness the first lunar eclipse of the year 2022 on May 15 and 16, as per different time zones. According to NASA, the eclipse will be a partial one and will be visible to stargazers in South and West Asia, Africa, parts of the Indian ocean, entire South America, much of North America and a few islands in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. However, the eclipse will not be visible in India just like the partial solar eclipse which occurred on April 30.

When would the eclipse begin?

NASA has said that the eclipse would begin at 10:10 p.m. EDT on May 15 and 7:40 am as per IST on May 16. According to the US space agency's graphic above, the eclipse will be visible completely in South and North American countries, majority of the West Africa and a few countries in the middle east. The eclipse will last for a total of three hours and 27 minutes wherein the moon will undergo one hour and 25 minutes of totality. Totality is a phase when the moon is completely obscured by the Earth's shadow. 

Why does the Moon turn red?

During the partial lunar eclipse, stargazers will get to witness a red-tinted Moon also called the 'Blood Moon'. A lunar eclipse, as we know, occurs when the Earth comes in between the sun and the Moon. NASA explains that when this happens, the Moon takes on a dim and reddish hue during the period of totality. This happens because even though the Moon is fully immersed in Earth's shadow at that time, red wavelengths of sunlight fall onto the Moon's surface after filtering through the Earth's atmosphere. 

"One way to think of this is that a total lunar eclipse shows us a projection of all the sunrises and sunsets happening on the planet at that moment", NASA says. Notably, a lunar eclipse begins with a phase called the Penumbra, when the Moon enters the faint outer shadow of the Earth. This phase is followed by the Numbra phase wherein the Moon enters Earth's dark inner shadow which, unlike Penumbra, is clearly visible.