24 May 2021

Bloody beautiful: red moon will be visible over Canberra on Wednesday night

| Dominic Giannini
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Red coloured moon

A blood moon will be visible over Canberra on the evening of Wednesday, 26 May. Photo: File.

Werewolves beware, a super blood moon will light up Canberra’s sky this week, dousing the city in a red glow.

As opposed to last month’s pink supermoon, the moon will appear red this time due to the total lunar eclipse on Wednesday, 26 May.

For sciencey people, this is when Earth moves between the moon and the sun, and the sunlight that passes through the earth’s atmosphere gets filtered and scattered.

For the rest of us, the moon will be red. Weather permitting.

Unfortunately, there is a chance Canberrans might miss out on one of the year’s most Instagrammable moments due to rain and clouds.

The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a partly cloudy Wednesday with a high chance (80 per cent) of showers, most likely in the morning.

The lunar eclipse will begin around 6:20 pm and end at around 11:50 pm, but the blood moon – when there is a total eclipse – will be visible between about 9:10 pm and 9:25 pm.

Chart of lunar eclipse stages for Canberra on 26 May

The time cycle of the blood moon over Canberra for Wednesday, 26 May. Image: Time and Date.

If you miss it you’ll have to wait until November 2022 for the next full lunar eclipse, although there will be a partial lunar eclipse in November this year.

Keen photographers who want to snap the perfect shot of the supermoon might enjoy the view across Lake George to the east, or you might want to snap up just how much light it casts across the city from wherever you happen to be.

Send through your best photos to The RiotACT’s Facebook or Instagram pages, or via email to editor@region.com.au.

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