While some parts of the world will witness a rare ‘Super Flower Blood Moon’ total lunar eclipse on May 26, the UAE residents will notice the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year as it will appear 10 per cent larger than a regular full moon.
Meanwhile, people in parts of the US, Australia, South America and eastern Asia will experience the total lunar eclipse, with the Moon taking on a reddish glow.
It will be the first of its kind lunar eclipse in nearly two and a half years – in which the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow and also appears to be around 7% larger than usual.
This phenomenon occurs within hours of the closest perigee of the year. All phases of the lunar eclipse are safe to view with the naked eye and an unfiltered telescope.
The countries in which visibility of this unusual lunar phase will be possible near moonset include the western United States and Canada, total Mexico, majority Central America and Equador, western Peru, southern Chile and Argentina.
The eclipse will be seen totally in eastern Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii.
The sublunar point – on the Earth’s surface when the Moon is directly overhead – is the center of the hemisphere of the Earth where the eclipse is visible and proximity to this highlights the higher the Moon will be in that sky.
The eclipse percentage in the table is the fraction of the Moon covered by the Earth’s umbra, the part of its shadow in which the Sun is completely blocked. The part of the shadow in which the Sun is only partially blocked is called the penumbra.
