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Lunar Eclipse Sunday Night; Longest in 179 Years
Beijing Astronomical Observatory has confirmed that there will be a lunar eclipse this night.
The lunar eclipse is expected to last 107 minutes, the longest since 1821. The next lunar eclipse that is projected to be longer will be on June 9, 2123.
A precise calculation of the length of the lunar eclipse will not be done until 2118, when there will be more information to make an accurate reading, observatory officials said.
"Everyone in China and Asia can watch the lunar eclipse that night if the weather is clear," said the observatory's Zhao Fuyuan.
He said a comet, Liner 1999/f4, will appear at the same time of the lunar eclipse.
"But with the relative darkness of the skies, we might be better off just watching the millennium comet with telescopes," Zhao said.
The lunar eclipse is expected to start at 7:57 pm (GMT1157). Full eclipse is expected at 9:56 pm, when the moon is virtually covered by Earth's shadow.
At 10:49 pm, the moon begins to be seen again. At 11:54 the moon comes completely out of Earth's shadow. There is only a 24-minute interval from the time the moon rises above the horizon at 7:33 pm to the start of the lunar eclipse at 7:57 pm.
"People who love to watch beautiful astronomical phenomena need to find a relative high place to watch the low moon eclipse," Zhao said.
He said a darker environment will make it easier for people to watch the moon eclipse.
"Strong city lights will dim the moonlight, and even overshadow the most spectacular scene of the full eclipse of the moon," Zhao said.
Zhao said the moon and the Earth are furthest apart on Sunday, making the lunar eclipse a bit longer than usual.
"The long distance will make the Earth shelter the sunlight to the moon longer than at shorter distances," Zhao said.
Meanwhile, astronomers who on Tuesday observed the most severe outbreak of solar activity in four years have issued a warning for the next 13 days.
Zhao said the recorded peak of solar activity was released at 6:13 am on Tuesday, which was about 3,000 billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb the United States dropped over Hiroshima during World War II.
"The released particles and substances run slower than the sound of speed. So it just reached the Earth on Friday or later," Zhao said.
He said massive geomagnetic storms and high-energy particles from solar activity could interrupt satellite and telecommunication facility transmissions and power transmissions.
Zhao said the solar activity would increase the degree of ultraviolet radiation on Earth. But, he added, it would not harm people.
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