‘Blood Moon’ eclipse to light up skies over Asia, Europe and Africa this Sunday
PARIS, Sept 4 — Stargazers will be treated to a “Blood Moon” on Sunday night during a total lunar eclipse visible across Asia and large parts of Europe and Africa.
The rare spectacle occurs when the Sun, Earth and Moon align, with the planet’s shadow casting an eerie deep red glow on its satellite — a phenomenon that has fascinated humans for millennia.
Viewers in Asia, particularly in India and China, will be best placed to witness the full eclipse, which will also be visible from western Australia and the eastern edge of Africa.
The total eclipse will last from 5.30pm to 6.52pm GMT. In Europe and Africa, observers will catch only a partial eclipse as the Moon rises in the early evening, while the Americas will miss out entirely.
The Moon appears red because the only sunlight that reaches it is filtered through Earth’s atmosphere, explained Ryan Milligan, an astrophysicist at Queen’s University Belfast.
Unlike solar eclipses, which require protective glasses or projectors, lunar eclipses can be safely viewed with the naked eye — weather permitting.
The last total lunar eclipse occurred in March, with the one before that in 2022.
Milligan, a self-described “solar eclipse chaser”, said he viewed Sunday’s event as a prelude to “the big one” next year — a rare total solar eclipse that will be visible across parts of Europe on August 12, 2026.
That eclipse will mark the first totality on mainland Europe since 2006, visible only in Spain and Iceland, though other countries will experience a significant partial eclipse.
In Spain, the path of totality will stretch across a 160-kilometre band between Madrid and Barcelona, though neither city itself will see the full phenomenon, Milligan said.
It will follow the most recent total solar eclipse, which swept across North America in April 2024. — AFP
[Source: Malay Mail]
