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Life

22nd Jul 2018

Longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century will be visible from Ireland in the next few days

Rory Cashin

lunar eclipse

The celestial event is also known as a ‘Blood Moon’.

The longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century will occur on Friday 27 July, and for some part of it, will be visible with the naked eye to people in parts of Ireland.

While our view won’t be as good as those in parts of the UK – where the Blood Moon will be visible from Friday evening all the way through to Saturday morning – it will still be quite the sight to behold.

Previously seen as a terrible omen – the Bible referred to it as the warning that the End Of Days was on the way: “the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes” – these days scientists know better.

It is simply caused when the moon passes through the shadow of the Earth, but instead of going completely dark, it picks up some of the sunlight from the redder end of the spectrum as it passes through our atmosphere and bends around the edge of our planet.

According to an eclipse specialist website, people watching the skies in Dublin will be able to see it from 9.26pm on Friday night until 10.13pm, but due to our angle to the event, it won’t be a perfect vantage point:

“This is the moment when the eclipse reaches its greatest magnitude while the entire Moon is above the horizon in Dublin. The true maximum point of this eclipse cannot be seen in Dublin because the Moon is below the horizon at that time.

“Since the Moon is near the horizon at this time, we recommend going to a high point or finding an unobstructed area with free sight to Southeast for the best view of the eclipse.”

So there you have it. Get to the mountains this Friday if you want your Insta game to be el fuego.