The Eclipsing Moon and the Shining Milky Way Over Cerro Tololo

Although the bright band of the Milky Way commands all the attention in this image, the Moon was the reason why this photo was taken. On the night of 16 May 2022, a total lunar eclipse transformed the sky over Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab, near La Serena, Chile. The crimson Moon shines above the Milky Way in the center left of the image. Counterclockwise from the red light at the top left of the image, we see the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope, the SMARTS 0.9-meter Telescope, and the Curtis Schmidt Telescope. In the southern hemisphere, the eclipse appeared extraordinarily dark as a result of the ash from the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption. 

In the northern hemisphere, the lunar eclipse was captured in this close-up image taken from the Visitor Center at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), also a Program of NSF NOIRLab, near Tucson, Arizona. This eclipse was the longest total lunar eclipse visible from the Americas since 1989. It also coincided with a “supermoon”, which occurs when the Moon is at its nearest point to Earth.