In 2021, one of the astronomical targets you may want to challenge your photo skills on is the lunar eclipse occurring on May 26 (the evening of May 25-26). While lunar eclipses are generally not hard to see, since half the world can see the moon at any instant, not everyone can see the full extent of the approximately three-hour event. For this one, Pacific Ocean hemisphere residents are favored, but the west coast of the U.S. gets to see totality followed by the still partially eclipsed moon set opposite the sunrise.
As everyone has learned in school, a lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are lined up. This doesn’t happen every month because of complications such as the period and tilt of the lunar orbit. Furthermore, the Moon doesn’t always pass directly through the center of the Earth’s shadow. This month, the Moon is just barely within the Earth’s shadow. Another upcoming lunar eclipse (November 11) has the Moon barely poking out of the shadow, so it is technically a partial eclipse.