What is a super flower blood moon and how can you see it?
On May 26, the only total lunar eclipse of 2021 will be visible from some parts of the world, weather permitting. This particular eclipse happens to have an awesome name — the super flower blood moon — and is a must-see for any moon lovers out there in the right area.
The super flower blood moon gets its cool name from the color, size, and month of the eclipse. Since the moon will be at its perigee, the closest point to the Earth in its oval-shaped orbit, during the eclipse it will appear to be a "super" or slightly larger moon. "Flower" comes from the Farmer's Almanac delineation for a full moon that occurs in the month of May. As for "blood," the atmosphere of the earth might be dusty enough to give the moon a red tint when the eclipse occurs. Put 'em all together and it's a super flower blood moon.
According to Astronomy.com, the eclipse will only be visible to those in "western North and South America, the Pacific Ocean, Australasia, and eastern Asia," so if you're on the eastern time zone you're out of luck for this eclipse. Luckily, Space.com has helpful a list of webcasts and livestreams that will host high quality video of the eclipse as it happens, including one from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.
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Alexis Nedd is a senior entertainment reporter at Mashable. A self-named "fanthropologist," she's a fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero nerd with a penchant for pop cultural analysis. Her work has previously appeared in BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and Esquire.
