A month from today, Singaporeans and the rest of the world will be graced by the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century.
July 28 is the date when the total lunar eclipse takes place, and according to Space.com, the phase will last a total of 1 hour and 43 minutes. It’ll be quite a sight too as the moon will be lit in a deep red hue due to its passing through Earth’s shadow, thus the name “blood moon”. It has something to do with the wavelength of light — Space.com has the explanation.
“The moon turns deep red or reddish brown during eclipses, instead of going completely dark. That’s because some of the sunlight going through Earth’s atmosphere is bent around the edge of our planet and falls onto the moon’s surface. Earth’s air also scatters more shorter-wavelength light (in colors such as green or blue); what’s left is the longer-wavelength, redder end of the spectrum.”
The reason why the total lunar eclipse will last nearly two hours is because the July full moon and July lunar apogee (the moon’s most distant point from Earth during its monthly orbit) both coincide on the same date. According to EarthSky, the last time stargazers enjoyed a lengthy total eclipse was on July 16, 2000, when it lasted 1 hour and 46.4 minutes.
Unfortunately, those residing in North America and the Arctic won’t be able to view the blood moon in the sky, while it will only be partially seen over Western Africa, Eastern Asia, South America, Europe and Australia. Given favorable weather, observers in the Middle East, southern Asia, and the Indian Ocean region will get a proper view, according to NASA’s lunar scientist Noah Petro.
In Singapore though, it looks like we’ll actually have to stay up to experience the astronomical occasion. The celestial event will start from 1:14am onwards, with the total eclipse lasting from 3:30am to 5:13am. No special equipment needed to observe the blood moon — it’s quite safe to view directly with the naked eye.
If you do miss out on the total lunar eclipse, you could always enjoy a view of Mars at the end of July. Mars will look brighter in the night sky as it will be at its closest point to Earth since 2003, Business Insider reported.
