Blood moon 2018: Earth to witness longest lunar eclipse on July 27-28

Come July, the world will witness a rare astronomical spectacle event. Blood moon will appear on the intermediary night of July 27-28, express.co.uk reported. 

The total lunar eclipse will be the longest one in the 21^st century, lasting one hour and 43 minutes, according to the report. 

“A partial eclipse precedes and follows the century’s longest total lunar eclipse, each time lasting one hour and six minutes. So, from start to finish, the moon takes nearly four hours to cross the Earth’s dark umbral shadow,” the report quoted astronomer Bruce McClure as saying.

The astronomical event marks the second total lunar eclipse and Blood Moon of the year. The eclipse will follow the super blue blood moon of January 31. The once-in-a-lifetime event combining a supermoon, blue moon and blood moon, January 31 sighting of a “blue Moon” and a total lunar eclipse occurred in India for the first time after 1982.

Here are the interesting things you need to know about July’s astronomical event

The blood moon 2018

As per express.co.uk reports, the moon will be visible on July 27. “The July 2018 full moon presents the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21^st century on the night of July 27-28, 2018, lasting for a whopping one hour and 43 minutes,” express.co.uk reported.

The total eclipse will begin at 7:30 p.m. UTC, and end at 9:13 p.m. UTC. The peak of the eclipse will occur at 8:22 p.m. UTC.

This lunar eclipse will be visible only from the Eastern Hemisphere of the world – Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. 

“In Asia, Australia and Indonesia, the greatest view of the eclipse will be during morning hours. Europe and Africa will witness the eclipse during the evening hours, sometime between sunset and midnight on July 27,” express.co.uk reported.

Longest lunar eclipse

This lunar eclipse will last longer than normal as the moon will pass directly into the darkest region of Earth’s shadow known as the umbra. The moon is at furthest point from Earth in its monthly orbit during the eclipse, thus taking longer to cross Earth’s shadow. It will be the smallest and furthest full moon of the year. 

Mars to be closest from earth in 15 years during the July lunar eclipse

Mars will also observe the closest distance from Earth in 15 years during the July lunar eclipse.

Mars will be in opposition to the Sun on July 27. This means it will be opposite the Sun in Earth’s sky, just 51 days before it passes through perihelion, which is its closest point relative to the Sun in its orbit. 

Just a few days after the lunar eclipse, Mars will pass by Earth at its closest point to since 2003. While the minimum distance between Mars and Earth will shrink to about 57.58 million kilometres on 30 July, the red planet will be only 35.8 million miles away from Earth on July 31, making it clearly visible to the naked eye.

Stargazers in the Eastern Hemisphere will be able to see both Mars and the blood moon on July 27 and 28.