Here's the date for the next full moon, will be a blood moon

Next month there is an upcoming astronomical event where the moon will appear completely full in the night sky.

According to reports from space.com, the next full moon is scheduled to happen on Monday, May 16 at 12:14 am and will also feature the first total lunar eclipse of 2022. As the next full moon will occur in May, it's also called the Flower Moon, with April's full moon being called the Pink Moon and June's the Strawberry Moon. Notably, the May full moon will feature a total lunar eclipse that occurs when the shadow of Earth is cast directly onto the surface of the moon.

A lunar eclipse only occurs when the Sun, Earth, and the moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth's position in-between the Sun and the moon. Furthermore, a lunar eclipse only occurs on the night of a full moon; hence it's featuring with May's upcoming Flower Moon. So, why does the moon go blood red during a lunar eclipse? The moon turns a red hue due to Earth blocking all of the sunlight.

Read more: First solar eclipse of 2022 is in days, here's how and when to view it

The only sunlight that reaches the moon has passed through Earth's atmosphere, and the phenomenon responsible for the color change is the same phenomenon that causes the sky to look blue, Rayleigh scattering.

Essentially, when sunlight hits Earth's atmosphere, it gets scattered in all different directions, but not all colors of the light spectrum are scattered equally, with longer wavelengths of light such as red and orange being able to easily pass through Earth's atmosphere, travel around the planet and eventually hit the surface of the moon, giving its orange/red hue.

As TimeandDate reports, if you have the right equipment or a keen eye its possible to spot a light blue band on the moon's face right before the moon has reached maximum totality.

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