When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore. “That’s Amore” was  Dean Martin’s 1953 hit song, composed by Harry Warren, with lyrics by Jack Brooks. 

Well, this month the Moon is sure enough going to look like a big pizza pie, and even with the correct ruddy color; pepperonis please, hold the clouds. It’s a lunar eclipse.

On May 15, just as the sun sets in the West, the Moon rises in the East. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon orbits into the Earth’s shadow. The Earth is directly between the Sun and the Moon, so we view them in exactly opposite directions. That always happens during a lunar eclipse. 

As the sun sets, the moon rises. If the reverse happens, the Moon sets as the Sun rises, the eclipse still occurs but we can’t see it. 

For this eclipse, Asia will not witness it, but it will be prime viewing in the eastern US and South America.

It’s Sunday, May 15, at 8:10 p.m. As the Moon rises it looks like a normal moonrise: big, bright, and beautiful. Anytime the Moon is close to the horizon, an optical illusion makes it appear larger, so the Moon looms large, rising in the East. 

As darkness falls and the Moon rises higher, it looks like we’re in for a normal evening with a full Moon shining in the Georgia pines.

At 10 pm, something seems subtly wrong. The lower left side of the Moon is darkening slightly. By 10:30, the change becomes obvious as darkness begins drifting westward across the Moon. By 11:30, totality, the entire Moon is a deep, faded red. Totality lasts until just before 1 a.m. when a brighter, silver color starts appearing on the lower left. Normalcy drifts westward across the Moon as the Moon drifts westward. 

By 3 a.m., it’s another normal full Moon in the Georgia pines. The show is over. The Moon sets in the West as the Sun rises.

So why is the Moon deep red during a lunar eclipse rather than black and invisible? After all, the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow. Let’s switch perspectives. Rather than standing in your yard, imagine flying to the Moon and looking back at Earth. The Earth is between you and the Sun, completely blocking sunlight. 

But the Earth has an atmosphere, an eggshell thin layer surrounding it. Sunlight from behind Earth travels through that atmosphere and turns red, just as sunlight does here on Earth at sunset. 

Enjoy the beautiful view of an atmospheric ring of fire surrounding the Earth. That light baths you and the lunar landscape in a red glow.

So at midnight, back home on Earth, when the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.