How to Watch This Week’s Blood Moon

Moon Knight may have ended over a week ago, yet funky things are still happening to the night sky. In fact, this week will be home to a blood moon sure to make Khonshu jealous. On the night of May 15th (this coming Sunday) the first lunar eclipse in the past year will see the moon pass through Earth’s shadow. The end result will be a three and a half hour event where the moon takes a reddish hue.

Beginning around 10:30 p.m. Eastern on May 15th, the moon will begin to move into position and around 11:30 p.m. Eastern, it should start taking its reddish hue. There are a variety of different atmospherical variables that can make the moon appear different colors to us here on the planet, so it’s unclear just how red it will appear.

“When this happens, the only light that reaches the moon’s surface is from the edges of the Earth’s atmosphere,” NASA says of the impending blood moon. “The air molecules from Earth’s atmosphere scatter out most of the blue light. The remaining light reflects onto the moon’s surface with a red glow, making the moon appear red in the night sky.”

Since it’s a lunar eclipse, no special eye wear will be necessary to watch the event unfold. Instead, simply head outside at the above times, find the moon, and you’ll be good to go. The vast majority of the United States should be able to see the full lunar eclipse or this time around, the Super Flower Blood Moon, as NASA is calling it.

As you near the west coast, however, the chance for a total eclipse dwindles. Even then, timeanddate says this eclipse will be one of the best eclipses to catch for west coasters this century. If you’re unable to catch the moon outside, NASA is live streaming the event below.

Cover photo by Faisal Khan/NurPhoto via Getty Image