How to Capture Blood Moon 2022 in Video Animation

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Are you ready for blood moon 2022?

No, it’s not a futuristic role-playing game about the underworld that’s poised to hit stores. The cool name is what astronomers call the coming lunar eclipse on Sunday that will render the moon fiery red in color. The eclipse will start at around 10:27 pm on May 15-16 when the Earth aligns between the full moon and the sun. The good news is that with today’s technology and digital tools like animation and video editing software, enthusiasts can easily capture this night sky spectacle and rewatch it in its full glory.

Unlike viewing a total eclipse of the sun where you definitely need special viewing equipment and precautions, spectators only need their eyes or a pair of binoculars to observe a lunar eclipse. This particular one often takes place during a full moon in May, which coincides with blooms in spring and will be visible across the United States and the Western Hemisphere.

There are two stages that viewers can observe for this event. First is the shadow play. This is where the full moon enters Earth’s penumbra or the outer portion. This position is expected to last for about an hour and will be the most noticeable part of the lunar eclipse as a chunk of darkness starts to appear on the moon’s lower left portion. Viewers can expect this stage around 10:28 p.m. EDT on May 15 (0228 GMT on May 16).

For avid lunar eclipse fans, they can take time-lapse videos of this stage since the moon will take about three and a half hours to completely pass through the umbra. Time-lapse clips can be easily animated or edited using built-in effects tools in many video editing software such as speed ramping.

The second stage of the lunar eclipse is called the totality. This is the stage when the moon progresses to cover the Earth’s umbra or dark inner shadow and becomes entirely immersed in it. Contrary to what many might think, the moon will not disappear in totality. Instead, this is where it will turn into a blood moon—a coppery red color. This is the effect of the moon merging with the Earth’s atmosphere and refracting and bending sunlight into the shadows.

The intensity of the blood moon effect and the clarity of the moon during totality will still largely depend on how clear the Earth’s atmosphere will be at that time. It would still be a great opportunity to shoot photos or clips of the lunar event and then transform them into stunning videos or artworks. Thanks to the drag-and-drop features and user-friendly tools of most video editing software today, you can quickly add effects to your stock footage and even share or upload them immediately to various social media platforms.

The blood moon event will end around 1:55 a.m. EDT (0555 GMT) when the moon passes completely out of the Earth’s umbra. The last traces of the lunar eclipse should vanish around 2:12 a.m. EDT (0612 GMT). Last year’s blood moon took place on May 26, 2021, with a totality that lasted for 16 minutes.