The Blood Moon that will appear on July 27-28, 2018, will be the longest lunar eclipse of this century. It will outshine every other eclipse to take place between 2001 and 2100.

The eclipse will be one hour and 43 minutes long. This is nearly 40 minutes longer than the Super Blue Blood Moon that appeared on January 31.

Bruce McClure, an astronomer for EarthSky.org, believes the Blood Moon will reach its peak around 4:22 p.m. ET.

A partial lunar eclipse will precede and follow the Blood Moon. Each one will last an hour and six minutes. From beginning to end, it will take the moon about four hours to cross through the dark red shadow of the Earth.

When the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow during the eclipse, it will become a deep red to orange color instead of disappearing out of site. This effect is known as Rayleigh scattering. It filters out bands of lights that are green and violet in the atmosphere during the eclipse.

Rayleigh scattering is responsible for the color of the sky, sunsets that are more of an orange hue, and blue eye color.

The first partial lunar eclipse will begin at 2:24 p.m. The Blood Moon will appear an hour later. The total eclipse will end by 5:13 p.m. and the moon will be visible it its full glory by 6:29 p.m.

Both the full moon and the lunar apogee fall on July 27. Lunar apogee means the moon will be at the farthest orbital point from Earth. The moon will appear small and distant. It is sometimes called an apogean full moon, micro-moon, or mini moon, according to McClure. Because this moon is further away, it will appear to move slower and take more time to cross the shadow of the Earth. This is why the Blood Moon will be visible for such a long time.

The longest possible total lunar eclipse lasts for one hour and 47 minutes. The total lunar eclipse on July 16, 2000 lasted for one hours and 46.4 minutes.

By Jeanette Smith

Sources:

The Express: Blood Moon 2018: July total lunar eclipse will be the LONGEST of the century
Inquisitor: Blood Moon Next Month To Be The Longest Total Lunar Eclipse Of The Century, Astronomers Reveal

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Top Image Courtesy of Kurt Bauschardt’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License