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This week, sky observers in many parts of the world will witness the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
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The Friday eclipse will be fully visible for an hour and 43 minutes and partially visible for three hours and 55 minutes from parts of South Africa and most of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.
According to timeanddate.com, the eclipse will culminate at 8:21 pm. UTC (or 16:21 EDT) and the complete eclipse will end at 21:13. UTC (5:13 pm EDT).
During a lunar eclipse, the Earth's shadow blocks sunlight, which otherwise reflects on the moon. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the dark shadow of the Earth completely covers the moon.
As the planet casts its shadow, the moon will emerge orange – or in some regions, blood red
Why? The blue sky during the day is the result of the nitrogen-rich atmosphere of the Earth, which "takes the light of the white sun, a mixture of all the colors of the spectrum, and scatters around the blue colors", according to Business Insider. "Towards sunset and sunrise, the light that reaches our eyes has been more completely scattered, so that the blues are almost absent.This makes the sun and its light more orange or even red."
" Total eclipses are a thrill of cosmic chance, "reported Space.com. "Since the moon formed, about 4.5 billion years ago, it has moved away from our planet (about 1.6 inches, or 4 centimeters per year) .The configuration is now perfect: the moon is at the perfect distance for the Earth's shadow to totally cover the Moon, but just barely .Bill billions of years from now, this will no longer be the case. "
The July 27th eclipse will be the second lunar eclipse of the year. The first took place on January 31 and gave way to a super blue blood moon, when the full moon passed through the Earth's shadow for a total lunar eclipse and gave a reddish hue. (Photo by (David McNew / Getty Images))
(David McNew / Getty Images)
Unfortunately, the United States will miss the heavenly show this week and will have to wait until July 2020 to witness a lunar eclipse, according to NASA.gov.
