May 26 Total Lunar Eclipse Is First of Two 2021 Lunar Eclipses

Summary: The Wednesday, May 26, total lunar eclipse is the first of two 2021 lunar eclipses and also the first of the year's four eclipses.

May 26, 2021, total lunar eclipse details: "Eclipse map/figure/table/predictions courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, from eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The Wednesday, May 26, total lunar eclipse is the first of two 2021 lunar eclipses and also the opening eclipse for the year's lineup of four eclipses.

May's total lunar eclipse has an expected duration of 5 hours 2 minutes 2 seconds, according to NASA Eclipse Web Site. The year’s first eclipse begins Wednesday, May 26, at 08:47:39 Universal Time (4:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). May's total lunar eclipse ends Wednesday, May 26, at 13:49:41 UT (9:49 a.m. EST).

May's lunar phenomenon showcases a full supermoon. The moon amplifies its full phase by its reach of monthly perigee (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “near” + γῆ, gê, “Earth”), the month's closest distance between Earth's center and the moon's center. Perigee occurs only 0.4 days prior to May's eclipse, according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak's EclipseWise website. The month's perigee takes place Wednesday, May 26, at 01:52 Greenwich Mean Time (Thursday, March 25, at 9:52 p.m. EDT), at a distance of 357,310 kilometers, according to Espenak's AstroPixels website.

All-eclipse visibility favors the Hawaiian archipelago, Polynesia and the Central Pacific Ocean. Most of the Southern Ocean claims all-eclipse visibility. Also, parts of Alaska's South West Region, especially the Aleutian Islands, as well as much of the continents of Antarctica and Australia and most of Oceania's Melanesia and Micronesia fall within the geographic region of all-eclipse visibility.

Varying amounts of visibility are available to much of East, North, South and Southeast Asia. The Americas, also, qualify for varying visibility. The largest expanse of the best amounts of visibility occurs over North America. Western Canada, western United States, most of Mexico and most of Central America lie in this stretch. Much of Argentina and most of Chile in southern South America and western coastal slices of Colombia and Peru in western South America qualify for the continent's best amounts of visibility. The no eclipse visibility over the eastward bulge of the Northeast Region of Brazil (Região Nordeste do Brasil) marks South America's largest country as the continent's only country with visibility ranging from some to none.

Two continents and one ocean are excluded from eclipse visibility. The Arctic Ocean is the only one of Earth's five oceans with no eclipse visibility. Africa and Europe are the only two of Earth's seven continents with no eclipse visibility.

May 2021's total lunar eclipse begins with a penumbral eclipse. First exterior contact between Earth's penumbra (shadow's lighter, outer region) and the moon occurs Wednesday, May 26, at 08:47:39 Universal Time (4:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time).

The instant of first exterior contact between the Earth's umbra (shadow's darker, inner region) and the moon initiates the partial eclipse portion of May's lunar event. The event's partial eclipse begins at 09:44:57 UT (5:44 a.m. EDT).

Totality commences with the instant of first interior contact between Earth's umbra and the moon. The total portion of the May 2021 lunar eclipse starts at 11:11:25 UT (7:11 a.m. EDT).

Greatest eclipse identifies the instant of the closest lunar passage to the axis of Earth's shadow cone. The May 26, 2021, lunar eclipse reaches greatest eclipse at 11:18:40.3 UT (7:18 a.m. EDT). At greatest eclipse, the moon's geocentric coordinates are placed at right ascension of 16 hours 14 minutes 37.8 seconds and declination of minus 20 degrees 44 arcminutes 14.9 arcseconds. The sun's geocentric coordinates at the instant of the May 2021 lunar event's greatest eclipse are figured at right ascension of 04 hours 14 minutes 03.6 seconds and declination of plus 21 degrees 12 arcminutes 25.4 arcseconds.

The instant of last interior contact between Earth's umbra and the moon marks the end of the event's total phase. Totality ends at 11:25:55 (7:25 a.m. EDT).

The instant of last exterior contact between Earth's umbra and the moon signals the end of the lunar eclipse's partiality. The partial phase ends at 12:52:22 UT (8:52 a.m. EDT).

The instant of last exterior contact between Earth's penumbra and the moon closes the May 26, 2021, lunar eclipse. This penumbral disassociation occurs at 13:49:41 UT (9:49 a.m. EDT).

The Wednesday, May 26, 2021, lunar eclipse has a penumbral duration of 5 hours 2 minutes 2 seconds. The eclipse's umbral passage endures for 3 hours 7 minutes 25 seconds. Totality lasts for 14 minutes 30 seconds.

May's total lunar eclipse occurs as the first of 2021's two lunar eclipses. The year's second lunar eclipse takes place Friday, Nov. 19, as a partial lunar eclipse and numbers as the third eclipse in 2021's lineup. May's event finds the moon in Scorpius the Scorpion constellation, according to Fred Espenak's EclipseWise website. November's lunar eclipse will find the moon in Taurus the Bull constellation.

May's total lunar eclipse also ushers in 2021's lineup of four eclipses, of which two are solar. The year's first solar eclipse appears as an annular eclipse on Thursday, June 10, and numbers as the second eclipse in 2021's lineup. A total eclipse on Saturday, Dec. 4, numbers as the year's second of two solar eclipses and closes 2021's eclipse quartet as the year's fourth and last eclipse.

The Wednesday, May 26, 2021, total lunar eclipse breaks a two and one-third years' absence of total lunar eclipses. The predecessor of May's total lunar eclipse made an appearance Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. The five intervening lunar eclipses occurred as one partial (July 16, 2019) and four penumbrals (Friday, Jan. 10, 2020; Friday, June 5; Sunday, July 5; Monday, Nov. 30).

The takeaways for the Wednesday, May 26, total lunar eclipse are that the lunar event occurs as the first of 2021's two total lunar eclipses; that the event showcases a full supermoon (full moon is at perigee); that, as the first eclipse of 2021, the May lunar event also opens the year's lineup of four eclipses; that a June 10 annular solar eclipse numbers as the year's second eclipse; that the year's second lunar eclipse, occurring Nov. 19, numbers as third in 2021's lineup; that 2021's quartet of eclipses closes Dec. 4 with a total solar eclipse; and that May's total lunar eclipse broke a two and one-third drought of total lunar eclipses.

total lunar eclipse Wednesday, May 26, 2021, as viewed from center of moon during the greatest eclipse; April 21, 2019: Tom Ruen (SockPuppetForTomruen), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

May 26, 2021, total lunar eclipse details: "Eclipse map/figure/table/predictions courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, from eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.," via NASA Eclipse Web Site (https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEpubs/copyright.html) @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2021May26T.pdf

total lunar eclipse Wednesday, May 26, 2021, as viewed from center of moon during the greatest eclipse; April 21, 2019: Tom Ruen (SockPuppetForTomruen), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2021May26.png

For further information:

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Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/2001-2100/SE2021Jun10Aprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Annular Solar Eclipse of 2021 June 10.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Solar Eclipses: Past and Future > Decade Solar Eclipse Tables: 2021-2030.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2021Jun10A.GIF

Espenak, Fred. “Moon at Perigee and Apogee: 2001 to 2020 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).” AstroPixels > Planetary Ephemeris Data > Moon > Perigee and Apogee: 2001-2100.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/ephemeris/moon/moonperap2001.html

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Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2021Nov19Pprime.html

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Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2021Nov19P.pdf

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Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/2001-2100/LE2021May26Tprime.html

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Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2021May26T.pdf

Espenak, Fred. "Total Solar Eclipse of 2021 December 4." EclipseWise > Solar Eclipses > Recent and Upcoming Lunar Eclipses > Decade Tables of Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipses: 2021-2030.
Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/2001-2100/SE2021Dec04Tprime.html

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Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2021Dec04T.GIF

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