CAPE CANAVERAL: The year’s second total lunar eclipse is coming up fast, and this time Asia will have the best seats in the cosmos.
Earth’s shadow will obscure this weekend’s full moon as the home planet lines up perfectly between the moon and the sun. Totality will last a lengthy one hour and 22 minutes. The entire show — starting with the first dusky bite of the moon — will span more than five hours.
The shorter total lunar eclipse in March offered prime viewing in the Americas. But the upcoming spectacle — called a blood moon because of its red shadowy hue — unfolds on the opposite side of the world Sunday night and early Monday, local time.
The entire eclipse will be visible in Asia — from Saudi Arabia to the Philippines, as far north as the Arctic Ocean all the way down to Antarctica — as well as parts of East Africa and the western half of Australia. The rest of Africa and Australia, as well as Europe, will be treated to some but not all of the action. Tidbits will be visible from the Brazilian coast and part of Alaska.
The moon’s vanishing act will be followed two weeks later by a partial solar eclipse visible from New Zealand, a sliver of Australia and Antarctica.