LONDON – At a nearly once in a lifetime event, the majority of Earth’s population will witness on Friday, July 27 the longest Total Lunar Eclipse of the 21st Century.
“This time, the moon will pass closer to the center of the cone of the Earth’s shadow, and it’s, therefore, a little bit longer than the eclipse we had back in January,” Noah Petro, lunar astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland told Space.com.
Additionally, the moon will be at a farther point from Earth along its elliptical orbit. That means the moon will appear slightly smaller in the sky.
The total phase of the eclipse will last one hour and 43 minutes, while the entire phenomenon will span over nearly 4 hours.
The eclipse will be visible throughout the entire globe except for northeastern Siberia and North America including Greenland; who still can watch it via webcasts of digital telescopes like Slooh.
The entire eclipse will be visible from eastern Africa, as well as Western and Central Asia. On the other hand, the eclipse will be visible from eastern South America at its end, while visible in Australia at its beginning.
Two Reds Together
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes into Earth’s shadow. Our natural satellite turns red, instead of going completely dark.
That’s because the Earth’s atmosphere scatters short wavelengths of sunlight (in colors such as green or blue), so what’s left is the long wavelengths; redder end of the spectrum.
The coming eclipse is also special because it occurs on the same day the planet Mars reaches its opposition when it will shine at its best in the night sky since 2003.
The planetary opposition takes place when planets get at their closest to Earth. After Martian opposition, the red planet will reach that closest point on July 31.
The worldwide famous website TimeAndDate.com presents models for what you would see tomorrow during the celestial phenomenon.
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