A total lunar eclipse on Wednesday is expected to last 100 minutes, according to NASA. An eclipse of that length is extremely rare because it takes a precise alignment of the earth and the moon to block the sunlight for that long.
The last time it happed was in July 2000. The next time it’s going to occur is in July 2018.
The beauty of lunar eclipses is the majestic coloring of the lights reflected on the moon.
Normally, when the moon isn’t blocked by the earth, the sunlight reflected on its surface just looks white. When the earth does block the sunlight to the moon, it distorts the lights and produces the varied colorings. The same thing happens to sunlight to earth in sunsets.
The entire eclipse on Wednesday can be seen “from the eastern half of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and western Australia,” according to NASA. Parts of it will be seen in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
It will not be witnessed in North America. However, below are two links of organizations that will stream the event online:
Below are the dates for future total lunar eclipses:
2011 Dec 10
2014 Apr 15
2014 Oct 08
2015 Apr 04
2015 Sep 28
Below are pictures of past lunar eclipses:
Lunar Eclipse
Source: NASA Lunar Eclipse
Source: Reuters Lunar Eclipse
Source: Reuters Lunar Eclipse
Source: Reuters Lunar Eclipse
Source: Reuters Lunar Eclipse