The longest lunar eclipse of the century is coming: it will be next Friday and there will be a red supermoon

In principle, there is a huge difference in duration between eclipses of the Moon and the Sun.

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon between the Sun and the Earth intervenes and prevents sunlight from reaching our planet. Kaisa Young, an astronomer at Nicholls University in Louisiana, details the site of science Live Science that solar eclipses are always shorter than lunar eclipses because of the size of the moon, much smaller than the sun

"A solar eclipse is a small moon projecting a small shadow on a large planet" told the expert.

During a solar eclipse, the shadow, like all the shadow zone in the Sun is completely covered, is just tens of kilometers wide and covers the entire planet.

On the contrary, in a lunar eclipse, the Earth interposes between the Moon and the Sun, and our planet darkens. the moon with its shadow. In this case, explains Young, "a lunar eclipse is a large planet (Earth) casting a large shadow on a small moon" .

Here, the surface of the Earth is huge and the Moon It can take a long time to cross it, especially if it occurs in the widest part of the planet.

An eclipse in January, on the contrary, where the Earth reaches its closest point to the Sun, the shadows of eclipses are more numerous. In conclusion, longer eclipses tend to occur in the northern hemisphere and shorter eclipses in the northern winter.

The eclipses of July 27 will be so long because the moon will pass almost in the central part of the northern hemisphere. the shadow of the Earth, in addition to being at a distant point of our planet in its orbit that lasts a month.

The longest possible eclipse that can be seen from Earth, is only 4 minutes longer than that which will be seen next Friday

The crimson color, which many call "Blood Moon" occurs when the moon passes through the shadow of the Earth but its surface is slightly illuminated by some of the sun's rays.

The red color is due to the fact that these solar rays are mainly those of the longest wavelength, which is the most red part of the sun's color spectrum.

These traverse the atmosphere of our planet, they twist and reach the moon. Basically, it is the light of dawn and twilight of our planet.

Smithsonian says this eclipse will have another ingredient: Mars will be in its closest position to Earth in 15 years, so it will be seen about 10 times brighter and could be dyed red too.