For the eastern part of the country, the penumbral (outer shadow) portion starts around 9:30 p.m. Eastern time, but you won’t see much then. The partial eclipse portion — where the moon moves into the umbra part of the shadow — starts at 10:28 p.m. and totality starts at 11:29 p.m., according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Totality will last about 1 hour and 25 minutes, and the moon probably will have a hint of red.

The middle of the eclipse occurs at 12:11 a.m. Eastern time on May 16, and you may note that the moon officially becomes full at 12:14 a.m., according to the observatory.

Totality ends at 12:54 a.m. Eastern time and the second partial eclipse phase ends at 1:55 a.m., according to the observatory

The noted eclipse expert Fred Espenak, who has retired from NASA, has details available at his website: www.mreclipse.com.

(The western United States will see the eclipse as well, but the moon will be rising there when the eclipse has begun. In the Pacific time zone, totality starts at 8:29 p.m.)

“It should be beautiful,” said astronomer Geoff Chester of the Naval Observatory. “You don’t need any special equipment. All you need is a clear sky. It would be nice to have binoculars or a small telescope to follow it, because then you can watch as the moon creeps into the Earth’s shadow and see how the shadow appears to move across some of the moon’s prominent albedo features.”

All eclipses belong to a family — called saros — that lasts centuries. In this case, the lunar eclipse belongs to Saros 131 — a series that spans about 1,300 years. This event is No. 34 of 72 lunar eclipses. The series started May 10, 1427, according to NASA. The series ends July 7, 2707. In this series, we last saw a lunar eclipse May 4, 2004, and the next will be May 26, 2040.

You are welcome to observe the lunar eclipse May 15 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.. Udvar-Hazy is part of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. This event runs from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. It’s free, but parking details and more information are available at https://rb.gy/wk4d3i.

Wake before sunrise, as the morning sky features Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn.

May begins with the effervescent planet Venus, -4.1 magnitude, quite bright, according to the observatory, meeting the large, gaseous Jupiter (-2.1 magnitude, bright) in the east about 5 a.m. now.

Find the reddish Mars (+0.9 magnitude, visible in the east-southeast) and the ringed Saturn (+0.7 magnitude) in the southeast.

By May 8, Venus (brighter than Jupiter) and Jupiter will appear to have separated in the predawn heavens. In the middle of the month, Jupiter and Mars seem to move closer in the east-southeast before sunrise from our earthly perspective.

Find the Red Planet and the large Jupiter in conjunction on the morning of May 29 in the east-southeast.

The Eta Aquarids meteor shower is expected to peak long before dawn on May 6 at about 60 shooting stars an hour, according to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. You will probably not see 60 meteors, but if you’re patient in a dark-sky location, away from streetlights, you might see a handful. The parent of these dusty meteors is the famed Comet Halley.

Down-to-Earth Events:

* May 14 — “The Nature of Time,” an online talk by Harold Williams, the president of National Capital Astronomers. The virtual Zoom doors open at 7 p.m. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. For details, visit capitalastronomers.org.

* May 20 — “Ingenuity: The First Flying Machine on Mars,” an online lecture by Bob Balaram, the chief engineer of Ingenuity at the Jet Propulsion Lab/Caltech. The talk is hosted by PSW Science. 8 p.m. For information and lecture viewing, visit pswscience.org. (Details on watching the lecture online will be available at the PSW website closer to the event.)

Blaine Friedlander can be reached at SkyWatchPost@gmail.com.