The Next Lunar Eclipse

There was a lunar eclipse visible from the U.S. a couple of weeks ago on January 20/21, but apparently I forgot to write up a post on it before the day passed! So to make up for that, let me talk a little bit about lunar eclipses and when you can next see one.

What is a Lunar Eclipse?

I'll have to write a more detailed post in the "What Is?" series, but to put it simply, a lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned such that Earth blocks the light of the Sun from reaching the Moon's surface. During a lunar eclipse, Earth casts its shadow onto the Moon. This is illustrated below (including the occurrence of a solar eclipse when the Moon blocks light from reaching Earth.

Solar/Lunar eclipse diagram by Tomruen

January 20/21, 2019 Lunar Eclipse

The lunar eclipse on the night of January 20 and the morning of January 21 was the first total lunar eclipse visible from the U.S. since September 2015. Depending on where you were located you may have had clear skies and if so, hopefully you took advantage and took a look at it. Fortunately we did and it wasn't a school night with MLK the next day. It was super duper cold, but we stayed up until midnight, braved the cold for a few minutes, and watched an awesome lunar eclipse! It was amazing to see the Moon turn a slight brownish/reddish color during totality, which is the result of some light from the Sun bending through Earth's atmosphere to strike the Moon and reflect back to Earth as orange/brown/red light.

Next Total Lunar Eclipse

If you missed this total lunar eclipse, your next opportunity depends on where you live. The next total lunar eclipse most of the U.S. can see is May 2022. There is a total lunar eclipse in May 2021, but most of the world will not see totality, aside from those living in Australia and some of the south pacific islands. Mark the May 2022 eclipse on your calendar now!