World prepares for longest lunar eclipse of the century and India is at the centre of it

NEW DELHI, July 24, 2018: There will be a total lunar eclipse around the midnight of July 27 which is expected to be this century's longest, an expert said on Thursday.

"India is at the centre stage of the lunar eclipse. It is visible all over India in its entirety," Ajay Talwar, at the Amateur Astronomers Association Delhi, said.

This time, the moon would pass right through the centre of the earth's shadow which makes it the first central lunar eclipse after the one in June 2011, B G Sidharth, Director of BM Birla Science Centre here said.

During the eclipse, the moon will appear red, giving it the nickname "blood moon".

"It is occurring at a time when the moon is at its farthest distance from the earth and so it will be the longest total lunar eclipse in this century.

The totality itself will last for an hour and 43 minutes," he said in a release.

The eclipse is visible from countries in Africa, Central Asia, South America, Europe and Australia.

The eclipse can be seen from all over the country when there are no clouds, the release said.

The eclipse itself will begin a little before midnight at about11.15 p.m.IST.(Penumbral Eclipse begins at 22:44:47 at Hyderabad).

This is what is called the first contact when the partial lunar eclipse begins," it said.

After this, the moon will get deeper and deeper into the earths shadow. The greatest part of the lunar eclipse happens at 51 minutes 44 seconds past midnight (IST), it said.

Then slowly the eclipse will start decreasing and finally at about 3.58 am of July 28, the eclipse would be in the partial phase for one hour and nine minutes, it said.

TNT News with PTI inputs

Image Courtesy: AP