Brief glimpse of 'blood moon' over Lapland

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Trinidad and Tobago will be able to partially see a "blood moon" eclipse on July 27, 2018, which is being called the longest total lunar eclipse of the century.

In Thailand, the total eclipse will be visible from 2:30am to 4:13am local time on July 28. It wasn't visible in the USA, but it could be seen from places like South America, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. The rare phenomenon of the longest 'blood moon' eclipse will be visible in India as well. But the good news is we will get a great look at Mars, as the planet will be the closest it's been to Earth since 2003.

During an eclipse, most of the light from the Sun is blocked by the Earth as the moon travels through the Earth's shadow. For this eclipse, Diego says skywatchers can expect to see a "bright red-orange moon".

The moon slowly moved out of the earth's shadow at about 10.15pm and returned to its normal colour. Although the lunar eclipse will be visible in all major land areas except North and Central America, the totality will be visible in India, the Middle East, parts of central Asia and eastern and southern Africa.

The total eclipse lasted one hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial eclipse preceded and followed it, meaning the Moon spent a total of three hours and 54 minutes in the Earth's umbral shadow, according to NASA.

The thrilling spectacle coincided with Mars' closest approach in 15 years today to offer sky watchers a stunning astronomical double bill. The only light reflected from the lunar surface has been refracted by Earth's atmosphere. I stood at the back door to witness the passage of the sun & moon before the two together slipped below the hill.

"There is no reason to believe Blood Moons foretell doom", he said.

First of all, we need to get straight what a blood moon is, and that's simple because it's just a total lunar eclipse.

Unlike with solar eclipses, no special equipment is needed to observe lunar eclipses.

Kiwi eclipse watchers were disappointed this morning when the moon disappeared behind clouds at the crucial moment.