Tonight, the moon will glide through earth's shadow, giving us the only total lunar eclipse of the year and the first one since January 2019.
The total lunar eclipse will be observed throughout the entire Pacific Ocean ,which means most of the islands will witness a total lunar eclipse ,or a Red-ish Full Moon at around midnight time.
A lunar eclipse occurs only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned (in syzygy) with Earth between the other two, and only on the night of a full moon.
The Moon is above the horizon during this eclipse, so with good weather conditions in your area the entire eclipse is visible.
This eclipse is dubbed the "super flower blood moon" eclipse by some, and here's why.
First, it's a "super moon," a term that has gained popularity over the past decade. A "super moon" refers to a full moon that is closest to Earth in its monthly orbit. (It's not a term used by astronomers, though many have opted to use it in outreach.) To the naked eye, it will be difficult to see the size difference between an average full moon and this one.
Second, each month's full moon is given a name by Farmer's Almanac. In this case, May's moon is the "flower moon" due to the time of year when flowers begin to bloom.
And finally, the "blood moon" refers to the colour a moon can turn during totality, or when it is entirely in Earth's shadow.
When to watch the Lunar Eclipse tonight in the South Pacific ?
Here's a quick run through the expected time of the TOTAL eclipse which is expected to last for around 14 minutes in some of our Island nations according to Pacifica Weather and Tropical Cyclone Updates:
Tahiti & Cook Islands - 01:11AM-01:25AM
Tonga ,American Samoa, Samoa, Tokelau & Niue - 12:11AM-12:25AM
Fiji ,Wallis & Futuna ,Rotuma ,Tuvalu, Kiribati ,Marshall Islands - 11:11PM-11:25PM
Vanuatu, New Caledonia & Solomon Islands - 10:11PM-10:25PM
Papua New Guinea & Federated States of Micronesia - 09:11PM-09:25PM
The Eclipse will begin roughly around 2 hours before the times mentioned above.
Note: Dark Pink Shading in this map are areas that are going to witness a Total Lunar Eclipse.