The longest lunar eclipse of the century from July 27 to 28

New Delhi:

A total lunar eclipse will take place on 27-28 July with a total duration of 1 hour 43 minutes, the longest In this century, the Ministry of Earth Sciences said yesterday:

The partial eclipse of the Moon will begin at 23:54 (Indian standard time) on July 27. The Moon will gradually be covered by the shadow of the Earth and the entire phase will begin at 1 am on July 28th.

The total eclipse will last up to 2.43 hours. Then the Moon will begin to gradually emerge from the shadow of the Earth and the partial eclipse will end at 3:49 am on July 28th.

In this particular eclipse, the Moon will cross the central part of the umbrella shadow of the Earth. In addition, the Moon will be at its apogee, farthest from Earth in its orbit, on July 27 and will move at a slower speed into its orbit.

This slower full moon will take longer and more distance "A total lunar eclipse will occur from July 27 to 28 with a total duration of 1 hour and 43 minutes, making it the longest total lunar eclipse of this century (from 2001 to 2100 AD), "a statement by the MoES said.

Such a long duration of total lunar eclipses occurred on July 16, 2000 for a total duration of 1 hour 46 minutes and another on June 15, 2011 for a total duration of 1 hour 40 minutes

L & # 39; Entire eclipse will also be visible from all parts of India. The eclipse will also be visible in the region covering Australia, Asia, Russia – except the northern part, Africa, Europe, the east of South America and Antarctica.

On July 27, the Mars planet will also be in opposition, which means that the Sun and Mars will be located one in front of the other, with the Earth in the middle.

This will result in Mars coming near the Earth, making it appear brighter than normal and it will be seen from dawn to dusk by the end of July. The brighter Mars will remain very close to the Moon eclipsed in the sky from July 27 to 28 and can be spotted very easily to the naked eye.

However, the red planet will reach closest to the Earth on July 31. Mars comes to the opposition at an average interval of 2 years and 2 months as the planet gets closer to the Earth and becomes brighter.

The March opposition in August 2003 brought the two planets closer together in about 60,000 years. The approach of Mars on July 31 will bring the two closest planets closer together and Mars will be seen the brightest since 2003.