Super flower blood moon and total lunar eclipse take center stage in tonight's celestial array

Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
·2 min read

It's the sky spectacle of the year.

On Wednesday, a full "supermoon" will brighten the night sky over the USA. At the same time, a total lunar eclipse will be visible across the West during the predawn hours.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the full moon and the sun. The Earth's shadow covers the moon, which often has a red color, hence the "blood" moon nickname.

Although it's completely in the shadow of Earth, a bit of reddish sunlight still reaches the moon.

You don't need special glasses or gizmos to view it, unlike a solar eclipse, so feel free to stare directly at the moon. Binoculars or a telescope will improve the view.

The full moon turned to a "blood moon" during an eclipse seen from the town of Kazanlak, Bulgaria, on July 27, 2018.
The full moon turned to a "blood moon" during an eclipse seen from the town of Kazanlak, Bulgaria, on July 27, 2018.

Folks in the western USA will have the best view of the eclipse, while those in the central part of the country will see a partial lunar eclipse just before the moon sets below the horizon. Unfortunately, people who live along the East Coast won’t see much of anything eclipse-related, the Old Farmer's Almanac said.

Hawaiians will get a great view of the eclipse happening high in their sky in the middle of the night, the Almanac said.

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What does a supermoon mean?

It just means the moon looks a bit bigger than usual since it's a bit closer to the Earth than usual.

"Because the orbit of the moon is not a perfect circle, the moon is sometimes closer to the Earth than at other times during its orbit," according to NASA.

On average, supermoons appear about 7% bigger and about 15% brighter than a typical full moon.

This will be the second and last supermoon of 2021.

Aside from the blood and super moon names, it's also the flower moon, a name given to May's full moon because "flowers spring forth across North America in abundance this month," the Old Farmer's Almanac said.

Other names for May's full moon include the corn planting moon and the milk moon, NASA said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Super blood moon and total lunar eclipse to appear in tonight's sky