July’s Blood Moon Will Be The Longest Lunar Eclipse Of The 21st Century

blood moon july 2018

Unsplash/Melanie Magdalena

It’s no super blue blood moon, but tonight’s lunar eclipse will be the longest of the entire 21st century.

The total “blood moon” eclipse will last one hour and 43 minutes, but the moon will be partly covered by the Earth’s shadow for another hour before and after the eclipse. It’ll reach totality (when the Earth’s shadow makes the entire moon go dark) at 8:22 p.m. on July 27.

The eclipse is called a blood moon because of the reddish color of the moon when the Earth’s shadow blocks the light from the sun. Unfortunately, the vantage points aren’t great from North America for this one (although you can catch views online). But it will be visible in Africa and Asia, with partial views in Europe and Australia.

blood moon july 2018

Unsplash/Tm Dennert

Even better, Mars (the reddest planet) will be extra bright tonight, meaning the skies will be red from the blood moon and red from Mars.

And because celestial events bring out the wacky in all of us, you know there are some crazy theories out there about the meaning of this eclipse. Just casual, end-of-the-world kind of stuff. Any blood moon brings out an old prophecy from the Bible reading, “The moon became as blood.” So beware the doomsdayers mixed in with the stargazers tonight.

Here’s hoping the world’s not ending because we have some fab summer plans left on our calendar.

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