Lunar Eclipse – Longest blood moon this Century tonight

We all know, our tides are controlled by the harmonious orbit of our moon around the planet, but few other occurances due to the perfect balance of our solar system take longer to come about – one being lunar eclipses.

What is a Lunar Eclipse?

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind Earth. The alignment of the Sun Earth and Moon means the shadow of Earth is cast onto the Moon. It’s the perfect or near-perfect alignment of the three which we refer to as a Lunar Eclipse.

Fun fact, the etymology of ‘eclipse’ is:

Middle English: from Old French e(s)clipse (noun), eclipser (verb), via Latin from Greek ekleipsis, from ekleipein ‘fail to appear, be eclipsed’, from ek ‘out’ + leipein ‘to leave’.

When will I be able to see it and how long will it last?

The blood moon will occur in the UK today (Friday 27th July 2018). Lucky stargazers will be able to see it from 8:50pm. It will last for 103 minutes. But unfortunately, we’re expecting thunderstorms and clouds across a lot of the UK, so only a lucky few will have an uninterrupted view.