A total

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, ...

occurred at the Moon’s

descending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, with an umbral

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 1.0112. A lunar eclipse occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

moves into the

Earth's shadow Earth's shadow (or Earth shadow) is the shadow that Earth itself casts through its atmosphere and into outer space, toward the antisolar point. During the twilight period (both early dusk and late dawn), the shadow's visible fringe – someti ...

, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the

night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's

shadow A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...

is smaller. Occurring only about 14 hours after

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on May 25, 2021, at 21:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. It was the first total lunar eclipse since the

January 2019 lunar eclipse January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the Northern Hemispher ...

, and the first in a series of an ''almost tetrad'' (with four consecutive total or deep partial lunar eclipses). The next total eclipse occurred in May 2022. The event took place near lunar

; as a result, this

supermoon A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth. The te ...

was referred to in US media coverage as a "super flower blood moon", and elsewhere as a "super blood moon". This lunar eclipse was the first of an almost tetrad, with the others being on November 19, 2021 (partial); May 16, 2022 (total); and November 8, 2022 (total).

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and the central

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, seen rising over

south South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

east Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

and setting over

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Timing

Local times are recomputed here for the

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

s of the areas where the eclipse was visible: Lunar eclipse contact diagram

Gallery

File:View from the Cove Overlook Rest Area, Keyser's Ridge, Garrett, Maryland, May 26, 2021 156.jpg,

Garrett County, Maryland Garrett County () is the westernmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland, completely within the Appalachian Mountains. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 28,806, making it the third-least populous county in Maryland. I ...

, 9:43 UTC File:Partial lunar eclipse may26-2021-minneapolis-tlr1.jpg,

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota, 10:19 UTC File:Incomplete lunar eclipse 10.52pm 26 May 2021 Berwick Forest NZ.jpg,

Berwick Forest, New Zealand Berwick Forest is a large ''Pinus radiata'' (Pine) plantation at Berwick in New Zealand, around 40 km west of Dunedin. The forest lies close to the banks of the Waipori River immediately below and around the western end of Lake Mahiner ...

, 10:52 UTC File:Taiwan Taoyuan.jpg, Taoyuan, Taiwan, 11:02 UTC File:Total Lunar Eclipse 2021-05-26, Near Totality (2).jpg,

Banyuwangi Banyuwangi, previously known as Banjoewangi, is a large town and an administrative district (''kecamat5an'') which serves as the capital of Banyuwangi Regency at the far eastern end of the island of Java, Indonesia. It had a population of 106,000 ...

, Indonesia, 11:03 UTC File:Lunar Eclipse 2021 Canberra.jpg,

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia, 11:11 UTC File:Lunar Eclipse in cloudy skies 2. .jpg,

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, Philippines, 11:13 UTC File:5 26 2021 Lunar Eclipse from Laguna, Philippines at 1915 local time.jpg, Laguna, Philippines, 11:15 UTC File:Blood Moon (51203510962) (cropped).jpg,

Geelong, Victoria Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, 11:23 UTC File:Lunar Eclipse Tarlac City Philippines 2021.jpg,

Tarlac Tarlac, officially the Province of Tarlac (; ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. It had a population of 1,503,456 people according to ...

, Philippines, 11:32 UTC File:May 26 Lunar Eclipse Kediri.jpg, Kediri, Indonesia, 11:32 UTC File:26-05-2021 Lunar Eclipse from eastern Magetan, East Java, Indonesia.jpg,

Magetan Magetan Regency is a regency ''(kabupaten)'' of East Java Province, Indonesia. It is an inland regency, and lies in the west of the province, adjoining Central Java Province. It covered an area of 688.84 km2 and had a population of 620,442 at the ...

, Indonesia, 11:34 UTC File:Lunar Eclipse May 2021 NSW (1).jpg,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, 12:01 UTC File:Lunar Eclipse May 2021 NSW (2).jpg,

, Australia, 12:21 UTC File:Lunar Eclipse of May 26, 2021.jpg,

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, India, 13:27 UTC

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a

fortnight A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2021

* A total lunar eclipse on May 26. * An annular solar eclipse on June 10. * A partial lunar eclipse on November 19. * A total solar eclipse on December 4.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2017 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 15, 2014 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 6, 2028

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 2012 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of June 1, 2030 An annular solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, June 1, 2030, with a magnitude of 0.9443. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 26, 2010 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 25, 2032

Lunar Saros 121

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 16, 2003 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 6, 2039

Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 15, 1992 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 6, 2050

Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 26, 1934 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 27, 2108

Lunar eclipses of 2020–2023

Saros 121

Tritos series

Inex series

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, ''The half-saros'' This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of

Solar Saros 128 Saros cycle series 128 for solar eclipses occurs at the Moon's descending lunar node, node, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 73 eclipses, 40 of which are umbral (4 total, 4 hybrid, and 32 annular). The first eclipse in the series was ...

Notes

References

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