The Earth will witness a total lunar eclipse tomorrow, Friday, marking the first of two eclipses this year. The President of the Jeddah Astronomy Society, Engineer Majed Abu Zahra, reported that the eclipse will be visible to the naked eye in parts of the South Pole, the western half of Africa, Western Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, the Americas, the Pacific Ocean, East Australia, Northern Japan, Eastern Russia, but not in Saudi Arabia.
Abu Zahra explained that the lunar eclipse will occur in its entirety between 06:57 am and 1:00 pm Mecca time. During this eclipse, the moon will be only three days away from reaching its farthest point from Earth during the month, making its apparent size slightly smaller, about 5.2% less than average. During the partial eclipse phase and as the moon enters the Earth’s shadow, the curved shadow of the Earth will appear on the moon’s surface, showcasing an ancient method used to prove the Earth’s spherical shape.
The most exciting part according to Abu Zahra is the total eclipse happening between 9:25 and 10:31 am Mecca time. During this stage, as the full moon enters the Earth’s shadow, its color will transform into copper or red, depending on the amount of dust and clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere. He noted that this non-central eclipse means the moon’s disk will not pass through the center of the Earth’s shadow. Therefore, the southern part of the moon will be closer to the shadow’s center compared to the northern part, making the northern part less dark than the southern part. The total eclipse phase will last for 65 minutes, and the term “blood moon” for a total lunar eclipse, coined in 2013, has become widely used to refer to any total lunar eclipse.
During the total eclipse, the moon’s surface quickly cools down, losing around 140 degrees Celsius within minutes. This rapid cooling will be monitored to reveal the size and density of rocks on the moon’s surface, aiding in a better understanding of the moon’s formation and characteristics. Additionally, two weeks after the total lunar eclipse, a partial solar eclipse will occur at the end of Ramadan, but it will not be visible in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
