Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse 2022: When To See It In Illinois

ILLINOIS — Illinois residents will get a look at the first of two total lunar eclipses next weekend when the full flower will be transformed into a moon blood red. Some experts refer to the occurrence as a supermoon, but that —according to many – is up for interpretation.

Local weather conditions factor greatly into whether Illinoisans will actually be able to see this stellar lunar event. After a stretch of really dreary weather, spring has suddenly transitioned into summer in Illinois and the National Weather Service predicts that temperatures next weekend and into the new week will remain pleasant with only slight chances of rain in the coming week and temperatures in the 70s.

However, not everybody will be lucky enough to witness all three stages of the eclipse, experts said. NASA officials maintain that people living in the eastern portion of the United States and anyone living in South America will see every stage of the lunar eclipse. However, people in other parts of the U.S. —Illinois included — will see totality but will miss other phases.

Here’s what you can expect in Illinois:

Moonrise is around 7:50 p.m. CST on Sunday. It’s worth taking a look because 1) rising full moons are pretty and 2) some celestial experts call it a supermoon (a bit more about that later).

The eclipse starts of the moon will start around 8:32 p.m. on Sunday and then move to a partial eclipse around 9:27 p.m., according to the Adler Planetarium. Totality is set to start at 10:29 p.m. and end at 11:53 p.m, Adler officials said. The partial lunar eclipse will then end at 12:55 a.m. on May 16.

The weather service is calling for partly cloudy skies on Sunday with temperatures in the 70s.

"A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon is fully engulfed by the Earth’s shadow," the Adler Planetarium officials wrote on its website. "Once totality begins, the Moon can appear reddish due to our atmosphere scattering away the bluer rays of the Sun’s light, just like the Sun appears reddish right before sunset."

Lunar eclipses only happen during a full moon, when the moon is opposite the sun in its orbit of Earth. In a total lunar eclipse, the sun fully illuminates the face of the moon. During an eclipse, the entire moon enters the darkest part of Earth’s shadow.

In a penumbral eclipse, the moon passes through the outer part of Earth’s shadow, only slightly dimming the surface of the moon. In a partial eclipse, the moon enters Earth’s darkest shadow, the umbra, causing some of the moon to darken significantly.

“Blood moon” is a descriptive rather than technical astronomical term, though The Old Farmer’s Almanac says the phrase is “hyped” and that a fully eclipsed moon is orange, or copper-colored like a penny, but not blood red. The moon’s color in totality can also vary depending upon the amount of dust, volcanic ash, or other particulate matter in the atmosphere, and because of cloud cover, according to Space.com.

Weather permitting, the lunar eclipse is worth staying up late to watch, even if it isn’t a supermoon.

"Supermoon" isn’t an astronomical term either, but rather one coined by astrologer Richard Nolle, who calls a full or new moon a supermoon when it is at 90 percent of its closest point, or perigee, to Earth. Under Nolle’s definition, four full moons meet supermoon criteria: a new or “stealth” moon on Jan. 14, full moons on June 14 and July 13, and a new moon on Dec. 23.

However, Fred Espenak, a retired NASA astrophysicist who worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center, uses slightly different criteria. He says the May Flower moon is the first of four supermoons in 2022. He also counts the June 14 and July 13 full moons as supermoons. Unlike Nolle, Espenak says the Aug. 12 full moon will be a supermoon (bad news for Perseids meteor shower fans, because the supermoon and the peak of the summertime favorite coincide).

• Related: 2022 Guide To Meteor Showers, Lunar Eclipses, Supermoons

Either way, a supermoon isn’t bigger, and it doesn’t even look that much bigger in the sky when compared to a normal full moon. While it can look larger when it’s close to the horizon, that’s due to “the circuitry in your brain,” according to Universe Today which explained, “it’s an optical illusion … so well known that it has its own name: Moon illusion.”

Although most often called the full flower moon, the May full moon is also known as the corn planting moon and the milk moon in the United States. In Asia, it is known as the Vesak Festival Moon because it corresponds with Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Purnima, a Buddhist holiday that marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha.

The actual date of the Vesak festival depends on the calendar used in different countries and regions but generally falls on or near the day of the May full moon.

If you miss the eclipse this month, the second 2022 total lunar eclipse on Nov. 8 will be visible across the Americas, Oceania, and Asia.