Updated By: LatestGKGS Desk
Blood Moon 2018: Century’s longest lunar eclipse of 1 hour 43 minutes occurred
Blood Moon 2018: Century’s longest lunar eclipse of 1 hour 43 minutes occurred: Highlights
Blood Moon 2018 or century’s (2001 AD to 2100 AD) longest total lunar eclipse of 1 hour 43 minutes occurred on July 27-28, 2018.
The rare celestial event was visible from all parts of India. It was majorly seen in the Eastern Hemisphere including Central Asia, Eastern Africa, and South East Asia.
The partial eclipse of Moon started on 27 July 2018. Moon was gradually covered by Earth’s shadow and totality phase was seen on 28 July and total eclipse lasted up to 2h 43m. The Moon came out of Earth’s shadow and partial eclipse ended on 28 July 2018.
Highlights of Longest Total Lunar Eclipse
In this lunar eclipse, Moon passed through central part of Earth’s umbral shadow. During this time, Moon was located at apogee (i.e. at farthest from Earth) in its orbit and moved at a slower speed in its orbit.
During this transition phase, it took longer time for Moon and greater distance of Earth’s umbral shadow to travel, making it longest duration of a total eclipse of this century. Such long duration of total lunar eclipses earlier had occurred on 16 July 2000, for totality duration of 1 hour 46 minutes and on 15 June 2011, for totality duration of 1 hour 40 minutes.
