Expect super total lunar eclipse, seasonal blue moon in 2021

KTRK logo
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Mark these 5 astronomy events in your 2021 calendar
A supermoon will turn red for a super total lunar eclipse on May 26, and a blue moon will rise on Aug. 22 in 2021.

These 2021 astronomical events will give you another reason to kiss 2020 goodbye.

A supermoon will turn red for a super total lunar eclipse on May 26, according to AccuWeather. It will be visible across the western United States before sunrise.

Up northeast, a "ring of fire" solar eclipse will be visible in northern Ontario on June 10. The moon will be too far away from the Earth in its orbit to block out the sun entirely, creating the red ring.

Later in the summer, shooting stars will rain down from the night sky on Aug. 11-12 for the Perseid meteor shower. The Perseids, boosting about 75 meteors per hour, are dust and debris from the Comet Swift-Tuttle, AccuWeather explains.

A blue moon will rise on Aug. 22. This will be a seasonal blue moon, the third of four full moons in a single season.

The year caps off with the Geminid meteor shower, which will peak on the evening of Dec. 13-14. AccuWeather described it as the best meteor shower of the year, saying it can bring up to 120 meteors per hour.

The shower, comprised of debris coming from Asteroid 3200 Phaethon, is known both for its quantity and the bright, multi-colored meteors it produces.