Lunar eclipse July 2018: Longest ‘blood moon’ in a century watched by stargazers across the world

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Skygazers around much of the world have been left spellbound by the longest complete lunar eclipse of this century.

The so-called blood moon, which in places turned a deep red, was visible at different times in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America on Friday night.

The total eclipse lasted one hour and 43 minutes, with the entire event lasting closer to four hours.

Incredible images have emerged from cities including Cairo, Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.

The lunar eclipse in the sky of the Egyptian capital Cairo
AFP/Getty Images

The blood moon occurs when the sun, Earth and moon line up perfectly, casting Earth's shadow on the moon.

When the moon passes through the Earth's shadow, sunlight filtered through the earth's atmosphere bounces back onto the moon's surface.

A blood moon rises over Tel Aviv, Israel
AP

Because the light waves are stretched out, they appear red when they strike the moon.

"The reason that the moon turns red is because atmospheric scattering causes red light to pass through the atmosphere and the composition of the atmosphere can change if volcanic eruptions or forest fires occur," said Tom Kerss, an astronomer with the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

"And the density of dust increasing in the atmosphere can cause the moon to appear a particularly deep red, and indeed it has the same effect on our sunsets and sunrises."

A lunar eclipse of a full blood moon rises behind the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi
REUTERS

The blood moon was particularly visible in parts of Africa and Asia, but cloud impaired viewing across the UK.

For those lucky enough to be under clear skies, Mars was also at its closest approach to Earth this week since 2003, making it appear bigger and brighter.

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