In the photos: Starwatchers observe the blood moon in the longest lunar eclipse – Science

A blood-red moon dazzled star-gazers in much of the world on Friday, when it moved into the shadow of the Earth for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century.

From the Cape of Good Hope in the Middle East and the Kremlin to Sydney Harbor, thousands of people turned their eyes to the stars to watch the moon go dark before shining orange, brown, and purple in the shade.

The total eclipse lasted 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, although a partial eclipse preceded and followed, meaning that the moon will spend a total of nearly 4 hours in the shadow shaded from the Earth, according to NASA.

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The most complete eclipse was visible from Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East and much of Asia and Australia although clouds have blocked the moon in some places.

The eclipse will not be visible from North America or most of the Pacific.

Reuters mapped the entire world eclipse, capturing a glistening orange and red moon over Cairo, the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, near Athens, the Bavarian village of Raisting in Germany , Rio beach in Brazil and Johannesburg.

In Nairobi, Kenyans watched the moon darken.

"It's like that that's life: magical moments like this," Teddy Muthusi said while looking at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. "It's just beautiful, it's worth it."

On the banks of the Indian Ganges, the temples were closed before the eclipse. Fans watched through telescopes at the South Pier Marina in Singapore and at the Al Sadeem Observatory in Al Wathba near Abu Dhabi.

Hundreds of people in Australia paid to watch the eclipse of the Sydney Observatory before sunrise.

When the moon shifted into the conical shadow of the earth, it went from being lit by the sun to being dark. Some light, however, reaches it again because it is curved by the atmosphere of the Earth.

Chart of the Eclipse

"This is what is called a moon of blood because the sunlight flows through the atmosphere of the Earth towards the moon, and the atmosphere of the Earth becomes red in the same way as the sun "Fabian, professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge, told Reuters.

At the same time, Mars is getting closer to Earth since 2003, so some observers can see what looks like a red-orange star – and it's actually the red planet.

"It's a very unusual coincidence to have a total lunar eclipse and march to opposition the same night," said Robert Mbadey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, which observed the eclipse of the Mediterranean Sea.

For thousands of years, man has looked upon the heavens as omens of misery, of victory, and of joy. The Bible contains references to the moon that turns into blood, and some ultra-Orthodox Jews consider disturbing lunar eclipses and a cause for moral contemplation.

According to some Hindu beliefs, celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon emit negative energy during an eclipse and so some temples in India were closed to minimize any disturbance.

Astronomers, however, said that there was no reason to worry.

"There is no reason to believe that blood moons predict death," Mbadey said. "This does not announce the apocalypse: seeing a lunar eclipse and Mars in the sky is something that people should appreciate rather than worry about."

The next lunar eclipse of such length is due in 2123.