You have an appointment with us on July 27, 2018 that will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, although the entire event will last up to 3 hours and 55 minutes. It is the longest lunar eclipse of this century, and you can see it on our website thanks to the broadcast of Sky-live.tv with the collaboration of the European project Stars4All.
The ‘blood moon’ of July 2018 and the lunar eclipse will last longer than any other event of this type between the years 2001 and 2100. The moon was very close to reaching that maximum eclipse that we will have on the night of 27 to 28 July 16, 2000, when the eclipse lasted 1 hour and 46.4 minutes.
In Spain, the lunar eclipse will begin at 17:14 pm and end at 23:28 pm; T he peak time of the eclipse will be at 8:21 p.m.
So, from beginning to end, it will take almost four hours for the moon to cross the shadow of the Earth. “
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are directly aligned, and the Moon’s orbit takes it directly into the Earth’s shadow. During the eclipse, when the moon passes through the shadow cast by the Earth (what we know as the umbra), it will turn a deep red or orange color instead of disappearing completely from view (hence the nickname ‘moon of blood’). This strange effect known as Rayleigh scattering filters out bands of green and violet light in the atmosphere during an eclipse.
Rayleigh scattering is also responsible for the color of the sky, the orange sunsets and even color blue eyes. Once the eclipse is over, the moon will be visible again in all its glory.
Why is the lunar eclipse so long?
In July 2018, the full moon and lunar apogee fall on the exact same date as July 27. The lunar apogee is the Moon’s farthest orbital point from Earth, which makes it appear particularly small and distant.
It will be the smallest and furthest full moon of the year, which means that the Moon will take longer to pass through the dark shadow of the Earth, making the eclipse last longer and giving us more opportunities to capture the perfect snapshot of the lunar eclipse. .
Just a few days after the longest lunar eclipse of the century, Mars will pass Earth at its closest point to us since 2003. That’s right; On July 31, the red planet will be only 57.6 million km away from Earth, making it clearly visible to the naked eye.
Stargazers in the Eastern Hemisphere will easily be able to see both Mars and the blood moon on July 28 and 29.
The eclipse will be visible from almost all of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and countries in Central Asia.
Remember that, contrary to what happens with solar eclipses, lunar eclipses can be observed without protection, so the use of telescopes or binoculars are only recommended for those who wish to observe the event more closely and in detail.
