On July 27 , the farseeing total lunar occultation of the twenty-first 100 will take blank space . It will be wholly seeable in East Africa , cardinal Asia , and India , and it will be at least partly visible from New Zealand and South America .
During lunar eclipses , the Moon moves into the shadow that the Earth shake off into space . This tincture lead to two potential type of occultation – partial if the Moon is scotch the penumbra ( Romance for half - shadow ) , or full when the Moon is in the umbra ( the full phantom ) . The umbra is large enough for the Moon to cross it without travel to its center . But this calendar month there will be a primal lunar occultation and that ’s why it ’ll be quite tenacious .
What ’s more , there ’s another factor that plays a role in this foresighted eclipse . The Moon is at its apogee , the uttermost point on its monthly reach that our lifelike satellite is from the Earth . At that aloofness , the Earth honk a wider trace , so all these factor blend create a record - breaking lunar eclipse .
The Moon will be dominate for 1 hr and 43 minute , the longest meter since the year 2000 . That eclipse was 1 hour and 46.4 minute , only a handful seconds brusk than 1 hr and 47 transactions , the maximal possible lunar occultation length . The two eclipses go to the sameSaros Hz , meaning they have the same geometry . These eclipses repeat every 18 years .
The eclipse will top out at 8.22pm UTC ( 4.22pm EDT ) . Billions of people will witness the Moon getting progressively darker before consume the characteristic crimson color of a total lunar occultation . The Moon turns red because the only visible radiation pass on it and contemplate back on its surface passes through the Earth ’s atmosphere , so it takes the distinctive chromaticity of sunsets and sunrises .
An often - asked question when it amount to eclipses is , why do n’t they happen every month ? The resolution is not complicated . The Earth , Sun , and Moon do not all orb the same plane , so they are only align once in a while . The Moon ’s orbital airplane is really tilted about 5 degrees with respect to the Earth - Sun planer .
