--- title: July 2018 Total Lunar Eclipse: Where It Will Be Visible description: The best times to see the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century that will be visible across much of the world on Friday, July 27. canonical: https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-23T12:09:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T18:49:33.000Z og:title: The Best Times to See the Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century Tonight og:description: It will be visible for nearly four hours og:url: https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bca2cd6fddeb065/69893522e76ad25a0e6327b1/january-super-blue-blood-moon.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: The January Blue Super Moon Is Visible In The UK og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Best Times to See the Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century Tonight twitter:description: It will be visible for nearly four hours twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bca2cd6fddeb065/69893522e76ad25a0e6327b1/january-super-blue-blood-moon.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Are the Best Times to See the Longest Total Lunar Eclipse of the 21st Century Tonight > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e76d2628-4f7e-4ca5-b654-3e93b00a9a24&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century [Watch (HLS stream): The Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YZn3r5uB.m3u8) (3:07)  _Published 2018-07-25. Most of the world will get to see a total lunar eclipse this week._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:49 PM UTCPublished: Jul 23, 2018 12:09 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Updated: Dec 12, 2023 6:49 PM UTCPublished: Jul 23, 2018 12:09 PM UTC Less than a year after the [2017 solar eclipse](http://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/) created a path of totality across the United States, the [longest total lunar eclipse](http://time.com/5328804/july-2018-lunar-eclipse-date/) of the 21st century will be [visible across much of the world](http://time.com/5304517/best-places-to-see-july-total-solar-eclipse/) on Friday, July 27. Sometimes called a [blood moon](http://time.com/5127052/super-blue-blood-moon-eclipse-reactions/), a total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves directly between the sun and the moon. Earth’s shadow moves over the moon, blocking the sunlight that ordinarily reflects off its surface and giving it a reddish glow. Stargazers around the world—with the [exception of North America](http://time.com/5337581/next-lunar-eclipse/)—will be able to catch at least a partial glimpse of the July 2018 lunar eclipse during the nearly four hours it will be visible in the sky. However, the totality will only last for one hour and 43 minutes of that time, just shy of the longest possible totality length of one hour and 47 minutes. You can watch the [lunar eclipse livestream](http://time.com/5351333/july-2018-lunar-eclipse-watch-live-online/) in the video above starting at 3p.m. E.T. “Totality is the moment that the moon is passing through the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow,” [Dr. Jacqueline Faherty](https://twitter.com/jfaherty), an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, tells TIME. “I think most people can relate to what it’s like to hang back in a shadow. On sunny days many of us head for the shade, maybe a tree or a building or even another person. Believe it or not, giant celestial bodies like the Earth and the moon also cast shadows out in space. The sun is the flashlight and the planets are rigid bodies that can block the beaming sun rays. So during totality, those of us on Earth are watching the moon fall in to our shade.” Different phases of the lunar eclipse will be visible across much of Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and Australia at various points in time on July 27\. However, only people in certain areas will be able to view the eclipse from start to finish. Here’s [when totality will begin in the regions where the entire eclipse will be visible](http://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/).  ## Central and Eastern Africa The entire eclipse will be visible in Central and Eastern Africa, with totality beginning in major cities like Cairo and Nairobi at 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. local time, respectively. ## Eastern Europe The total eclipse will start in Eastern European hubs like Bucharest and Moscow at 10:30 p.m. local time. ## The Middle East Limassol and Dubai will offer some of the best views of the full eclipse beginning at 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m local time. ## Central and Southeast Asia Stargazers in New Delhi should look to the sky at 1 a.m. local time for totality while those in Bangkok can catch the lunar phenomenon at 2:30 a.m. ## Western Australia In Perth, the total eclipse will become visible around 3:30 a.m. local time. For more detailed information on exactly when you can view the July 2018 lunar eclipse, plug your location into NASA’s [Lunar Eclipse Explorer](https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JLEX/JLEX-index.html). ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] On July 27 almost every part of the world Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America even Antarctica will be treated to the longest total lunar eclipse And roughly a 100 years. During this time, the usually silvery moon will turn a blood red. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the sun and the moon casting a shadow across the entire lunar disks. The moon is not blooded out completely, but instead turns a deep red. Sometimes called a blood moon. As the Sun streams through Earth's atmosphere, allowing only the red wavelengths to pass. To learn more about the science of eclipses and why this one is special, Time editor at large, Jeffrey Kluger, spoke with American Museum of Natural Histories research associate, Emily Rice. Last summer, the United States was treated to a rare solar eclipse. This summer almost every other part of the world except the U. S. will be treated to a lunar eclipse lasting up to one hour and 43 minutes. A lunar eclipse is what happens. This is when the Earth blocks out the light from the sun that would normally be reflected off the full moon and that creates a total lunar eclipse. When all of the illuminated part of the moon is blocked by the Earth's shadow. When it's the Earth doing the blocking, the Earth has an atmosphere and so actually what we see is some of the red light that's kind of scattered through the Earth's atmosphere that still makes it into the shadow creating that red effect on the surface of the moon. [ MUSIC ] And if the sun were just a little bit bigger where the moon a bit farther away total solar eclipses may never occur, but they do and it's the reason eclipses are refered to as celestial phenomenon. The earth shadow is always there. But the earth shadow is always exactly on the ecliptic and the moon is usually a little bit above and below the ecliptic. And so they have to be exactly lined up in other for a total lunar eclipse to happen. What is significant in particular about this year. This eclipse This one is actually one of the longer lunar eclipses that we're ever going to be able to see. And that's really because the moon is going to be going really along the ecliptic and through the widest part of the world's shadow. The full moon will spend a longer time in that total phase of the eclipse and that will be very interesting. So this eclipse is not going to be visible for any of North America. The best places are going to be eastern South America. And then Western Europe Western Africa, and that's because this eclipse will be visible at moonrise in these areas. So at sunset. Those lucky enough to catch this years eclipse could also get a glimpse of Mars and the Milky Way. Sadly by the time night falls in North America and the moon rises here, the eclipse will already have end. but as 2018's If you can still catch the astrological marvel on a live webcast and while there are usually two to or three lunar eclipses in a given year it's hard not to be in awe of the wonder that proved Einstein's theory of relativity. The moon is really our celestial partner out in space and so it's nice that people are taking the excuse of a lunar excuse to pay attention to the moon. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/"},"headline":"These Are the Best Times to See the Longest Total Lunar Eclipse of the 21st Century Tonight","datePublished":"2018-07-23T12:09:12.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T18:49:33.000Z","description":"It will be visible for nearly four hours","url":"https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bca2cd6fddeb065/69893522e76ad25a0e6327b1/january-super-blue-blood-moon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6bca2cd6fddeb065/69893522e76ad25a0e6327b1/january-super-blue-blood-moon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The January Blue Super Moon Is Visible In The UK","caption":"The January Blue Super Moon Is Visible In The UK","creditText":"Matt Cardy/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/","name":"These Are the Best Times to See the Longest Total Lunar Eclipse of the 21st Century Tonight"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Longest Lunar Eclipse of the Century","description":"Most of the world will get to see a total lunar eclipse this week.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YZn3r5uB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-25T21:25:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YZn3r5uB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/","duration":"PT3M7S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5336078/what-time-is-the-lunar-eclipse/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```