Lunar Eclipse: Century’s Longest «Blood Moon» Delights Sky Gazers

Local Editor

Sky watchers around the world have witnessed the longest "blood moon" eclipse of the 21^st Century.

As it rose, during this total eclipse, Earth's natural satellite turned a striking shade of red or ruddy brown.

The "totality" period, where light from the Moon was totally obscured, lasted for one hour, 43 minutes.

At least part of the eclipse was visible from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, most of Asia and South America.

In the UK, where the weather allowed, the Moon could be seen to turn red - fully eclipsed by Earth - from when it rose at 21:00 until 22:15 BST.

Over the coming days, Mars will be at its closest point to Earth since 2003 - visible as a "bright red star" where skies are clear.

The Moon passed right through the center of the Earth's shadow, at the shadow's widest point.

"This is actually almost as long as a lunar eclipse could be," Prof Tim O'Brien, an astrophysicist at University of Manchester, explained.

It coincided not only with Mars's close approach, but with what he described as a "procession of planets" - a line-up of our celestial neighbors that gave sky watchers a particularly good view of Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.

Because the Moon is far away from Earth relatively speaking - its orbit is an ellipse, so it moves closer and further and looks larger and smaller from Earth.

Mars could also be seen as a bright red star just below the Moon.

"Every couple of years or so, the Earth overtakes Mars on the inside as it orbits the Sun, so Mars is closest to us," said Prof O'Brien.

"And because of the elliptical shape of the orbit, it's even closer than normal."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team