Total lunar eclipse occurs in July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

On Friday–Saturday —depending on observer's timezone— a total lunar eclipse occurred as the Moon was in the shadow of the Earth. As normal during such an eclipse, the Moon became faint and turned completely red as bluer light was scattered by the Earth's atmosphere. Totality of 1 hour and 43 minutes was the longest in the 21st century.

People were able to observe the eclipse from Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. A volunteer named José Jiménez uploaded a photo of the incident today from Alt Empordà in Girona, Catalonia, Spain, featuring the Moon, Mars, and the milky way on the same photo.

German astronaut Alexander Gerst took photos of the Moon from the International Space Station and uploaded them to Flickr on the same day.

According to timeanddate.com, the timeline of the eclipse was as follows.

Event	Time (UTC) July 27
Start penumbral eclipse	17:14:47
Start partial eclipse	18:24:27
Start full eclipse	19:30:15
Maximum eclipse	20:21:44
End full eclipse	21:13:11
End partial eclipse	22:19:00
End penumbral eclipse	23:28:38

Mars was also visible near the Moon; coming this week, reported 9News, closer to Earth than at any time since 2003.

An observation from Alt Empordà in Girona, Catalonia, Spain, featuring the Moon, Mars and Milky Way, uploaded on July 31, 2018. Imzage taken at 23:31, on July 27, 2018.
Image: José Jiménez.
Visibility map of the eclipse.
Image: PIRULITON.
India.
Image: Telugu Nidhi Channel.
Fuzhou, China. Before the total eclipse began. 20:08, July 27, 2018.
Image: Jingyuan Lin.
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)
International Space Station.
Image: Alexander Gerst.
International Space Station.
Image: Alexander Gerst.
Location unknown. Includes Mars. 04:44, July 28, 2018
Image: Kent Liau.
Location unknown. Includes Mars. 05:13, July 28, 2018
Image: Kent Liau.
Sweden. 22:36, July 27, 2018.
Image: CJ.
Observation from Austria, 22:15, July 27, 2018.
Image: Henry Kellner.
Madrid, Spain. 23:29, July 27, 2018.
Image: Pablohn6.
Switzerland. 20:25, July 27, 2018.
Image: Laurie Nevay.
A series of images from Télescope Celestron NexStar 8 SE,
Image: maxime raynal (France).

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Sources

Why Does the Moon Turn Red? — TimeAndDate, August 1, 2018
Dave Mosher. An astronaut photographed the 'blood moon' from the International Space Station, and his pictures are haunting — Business Insider, Australia, July 31, 2018
27–28 July 2018 — Total Lunar Eclipse — TimeAndDate, July 28, 2018
Longest Blood Moon eclipse soars over Bagram — United States Air Force, July 28, 2018
Stargazers treated to longest lunar eclipse of the century — 9News, July 28, 2018

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