Those clued into what’s going on in outer space may well have excitedly circled this date in their calendars yonks ago; but for those that remain unaware, let us fill you in. A blood moon eclipse, which could make the moon appear red, is on the cards this Sunday (May 15) carrying over into Monday (May 16), according to Astronomy Ireland.
Now, getting up even earlier on a Monday morning is an idea born in hell for most people, but this one time may well be worth it. How often do you get the chance to see a full lunar eclipse forming a blood moon? Not very, is the answer — the phenomenon tends to only happen up to twice a year, and is often not visible enough due to forces beyond our control.
Let’s hope the clouds are in our favour this time around (not a sure thing in Dublin) to give us optimum viewing of the event. For those wishing to catch a glimpse of the blood moon, it should be visible in Ireland between 3.32 am and 5.11 am in the early hours of May 16 – leaving you with the catch-22 of sleep deprivation-based dilemmas: stay up late or set your alarm for stupid o’clock. Either way, you’ll likely be a little yawny in your first meeting of the week, but the sighting of a blood moon should be a pretty reasonable trade-off.