Blood Moon 2018: Why will the eclipse be the LONGEST of the century? | Science | New

This year has been a feast for sky observers, with a unique lunar event, the Super Blue Blood Moon, on January 31st.

The second of two lunar eclipses this year is scheduled for July 27, as the moon turns red.

The color change at the moon happens as by blocking the sun, the earth reflects the indirect light on the moon that becomes filtered.

This filtering effect is known as Rayleigh scattering, which excludes green and purple light, meaning that red and orange tones reach the moon.

A Super Blue Blood Moon combines a Supermoon, Blue Moon and Blood Moon.

A Supermoon occurs when the moon is full at its closest rotation to the earth, and a blue moon is when a second full moon occurs in a single calendar month.

Unfortunately, UK residents could not see the Moon Super Blood Blue because of its position in the sky.

However, those in the UK who want to get a glimpse of July's Blood Moon are lucky because the moon will be visible during the peak of its total eclipse.

Astronomers have revealed that this lunar eclipse will be the longest to take place this century.

The total eclipse will last one hour and 43 minutes, with the moon remaining entirely in the shade for the entire 103 minutes.

It's almost 40 minutes longer than the Super Blue Blood Moon in January.

Astronomer Bruce McClure said that the eclipse will reach its peak around 9:52 pm BST.

"The full moon of July 2018 presents the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century on the night of July 27 to 28, 2018, lasting one hour and 43 minutes.

"A partial eclipse precedes and follows the longest lunar eclipse of the century, each time for one hour and six minutes.

"So, from beginning to end, the moon takes almost four hours to cross the shady shadow of the Earth."

This total eclipse will last as long as the moon is at its furthest point from the earth, making time to go through the earth's shadow longer than usual.

Lasting longer than any eclipse between 2001 and 2100, the July Blood Moon will be the longest eclipse of this century.

The moon has an elliptical orbit around the earth, and the distance of the earth varies throughout the month and year.

When the moon reaches its peak during the full moon, it is known as Micromoon.

Here are all the schedules and directions for the Blood Moon on July 27th at BST:

20h50 – Moonrise (south-east horizon)

9.21pm – Maximum eclipse (very low southeast): The Moon will be closest to the center of the Earth's shadow.

22:13 – End of Total Eclipse (Lower Southeast): The Moon will begin to leave the shadow of the Earth and will be in partial shade.

11:19 – End of Partial Eclipse (Lower Southeast): The Moon has left the shadow and no longer appears in red.

12:28 – The eclipse ends (high enough in the south): The Moon will have completely left the shadow of the Earth and will appear darker than usual.

If you can not observe the stars, timeanddate.com will show a live stream of the blood moon on their website.