Blood moon on July 27: Longest lunar eclipse of century
New Delhi : Avid sky watchers will take pleasure to watch another celestial event involving the moon. The blood moon slated to appear late night between July 27 and July 28. The moon turns deep red or reddish brown during eclipses, instead of going completely dark. The total phase of the "blood moon" eclipse will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, longest in the century.
This blood moon is expected to be seen in India, as well as many parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Amusingly, the blood moon, could occur around the time when Mars will be closest to the Earth in the last 15 years.
Scientists believe that the blood moon to witness on July 27 will last beyond 100 minutes, and is expected to cast a larger shadow over the Earth than previously recorded moons. This is because, today, the Earth will be at its farthest distance from the Sun, and the Moon will also be at its greatest distance from the Earth.
As the name suggests, the blood moon will see the Moon cast in a crimson red hue for the duration of the eclipse. Experts also suggest that the intensity of the blood moon could vary with the dust concentrations, as the redness is affected by Rayleigh scattering. This makes light waves leap off dust particles, and scatter various radiations in different directions.
Such celestial event was observed earlier this year, when Super Blue Blood Moon appeared on January 31 and the supermoon on January 1, respectively. Here’s what happened during those events.
Where and when will the blood moon be visible?
The entire lunar eclipse will be visible from Africa, the Middle East and countries in central Asia. The eclipse will be visible from eastern South America as it is ending, and from Australia as it is beginning.
The time of greatest eclipse will be 4:21 p.m. EDT (2021 GMT) on July 27, according to EarthSky.org. The total eclipse will last from 3:30 p.m. to 5:13 p.m. EDT (1930 to 2113 GMT). There will also be some time before and after when the moon is in the lighter part of Earth's shadow, which is called the penumbra. Including that penumbral time, the eclipse will last for 3 hours and 55 minutes.
It must be noted that stargazers do not require any special equipment to observe lunar eclipses. For best visibility, it is suggested to view it from locations far away from urban settings, where the sky is the clear.
