Clouds put damper on hopes of blood moon sightings in UK

The longest lunar eclipse of the century will happen late Friday or early Saturday, depending on where you live.

Unlike with solar eclipses, no special equipment is required to observe lunar eclipses.

Mars will next be this close to earth in 2035. Then the Moon will start to gradually come out of Earth’s shadow and partial eclipse will end at 3.49 am, the statement said.

The full eclipse will begin at approximately 9:13 p.m. UTC, which is just 5:13 p.m. EST, making it impossible to see from anywhere in the United States, Canada, Central America, or Greenland. Mars will shine brighter than it has in 15 years. A sky enthusiast from Chennai, Eashwar Mathur said, “It’s going to be fun since it’s a blood moon and also the longest eclipse”.

The July 27, 2018, lunar eclipse will put the moon fully in Earth’s shadow for 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 57 seconds.

A skygazer in Sydney watches the blood moon.

It was the longest blood moon eclipse of the century.

The entire eclipse can be viewed from Brunei until moon set at 6.23am, Hazarry said. The Penumbral Eclipse begins at 22.44 PM IST on July 27.

Here are some of the most googled questions about the lunar eclipse answered.

“And the density of dust increasing in the atmosphere can cause the moon to appear a particularly deep red, and indeed it has the same effect on our sunsets and sunrises”. But there’s a catch: It’ll be visible only in parts of South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It happens because, when the sunlight enters Earth’s atmosphere which is blocking, the light gets refracted in such a way that the green to violet wavelengths on the visible spectrum scatter more strongly than the red, thus giving the moon a reddish cast.

Also, those in the United Kingdom will miss a section of the eclipse due to the moon being below our horizon when it starts, which gives south-eastern observers a slightly better advantage than the north-western ones. Ursa said that it is perfectly safe to look at the moon with the naked eye, or with binoculars or telescopes. The earth comes in between the sun and moon, while the crossing shadows when falls on the moon, creates this celestial happening. There will be another guest during the eclipse, as Mars will glow brightly, giving some unforgettable moments to skywatchers all over the world. This is partly because the moon is lower in the sky in the north, and partly because the northern light summer nights mean that the blood colour will not be as clearly visible.

Not all the lunar eclipses will lead to a “bloody” show.