NASA's Lucy spacecraft records May 16 lunar eclipse 100 million km away from Earth

The recent lunar eclipse which occurred on May 16 was spotted by NASA's Lucy spacecraft which is on its way to studying Jupiter's trojan asteroids. NASA has shared a short timelapse video of Lucy's observation of the lunar eclipse from 100 million km from the Earth, which is nearly 70% of the distance between our planet and the Sun. Using its high-resolution panchromatic camera, L'LORRI, Lucy was able to watch as the Earth cast its shadow on the Moon. In the visual shared by NASA, the moon can be seen blinking, which actually was sunlight being obstructed from falling on the lunar surface. 

"At this distance, the Earth and Moon appeared only 0.2 degrees apart to Lucy, having the same separation as a car’s tail-lights as viewed from a quarter-mile (400 m) away," NASA said in a statement. According to the agency, the video covers a period of almost three hours, which is from 7:10 a.m. (IST) to 10 a.m. on May 16. "The observations ended before the Moon emerged from the shadow," NASA said. Launched in October 2021, Lucy is currently traveling back towards Earth for a gravity assist on October 16, 2022, to help propel it on its journey to the Trojan asteroids.

May 16 lunar eclipse

Parts of Europe along with entire Africa and both American continents witnessed the first total lunar eclipse of 2022 on May 16, as per Indian Standard Time. The lunar eclipse had begun at 7:02 a.m. (IST) and resulted in a super flower blood moon during the peak of the celestial event. Lasting for a total of three hours and 27 minutes, the totality period of the moon lasted for 85 minutes, which is the longest in the last 33 years. This was the longest totality during a lunar eclipse since August 1989, when the moon was immersed in the Earth's shadow for about 96 minutes. According to NASA's planetary geologist Noah Petro, the moon was approximately 3,62,000 kilometers away from Earth at the peak of the eclipse.