WASHINGTON, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The longest total lunar eclipse of the century will take place on Friday as people from many parts of the world will get a chance to appreciate a blood red moon, according to U.S. space agency NASA.
The duration of the full eclipse will be about one hour and 43 minutes, according to NASA.
It is 27 minutes longer than the "super blue blood moon" that occurred in January.
The previous total lunar eclipse longer than the upcoming event happened just 18 years ago, which lasted for one hour and 46 minutes on July 16, 2000, NASA statistics show.
Going forward, however, there will not be another total lunar eclipse longer than Friday's event until 2123, weather information website theweathernetwork.com said.
People in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and South Africa will witness either the full eclipse or a partial eclipse, depending on the weather, NASA said.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides of the Earth.
Although the moon is in Earth's shadow, some sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere and reaches the moon. As most of the longer blue and violet wavelengths are filtered out by Earth's atmosphere and the shorter red and orange wavelengths pass through, the moon takes on a reddish tint, known as a "blood moon."
In the meantime, the longest total lunar eclipse of the century will coincide with Mars' closest approach to Earth in 15 years, offering a thrilling astronomical double bill for stargazers.