ConnectZone Lunar Eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse Tonight! June 15th 2011


A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes behind the earth so that the earth blocks the sun's rays from striking the moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a full moon. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon's location relative to its orbital nodes. According to the AP, the moment of totality -- when the Earth's shadow completely blocks the moon -- will last 1 hour and 40 minutes during tonight's lunar eclipse. The last time a lunar eclipse lasted as long was in July 2000, when totality occurred for just 7 minutes longer. This will be the darkest lunar eclipse in almost 100 years as the centres of the sun, the earth and the moon would nearly be on one straight line. The earlier darkest lunar eclipse was observed on August 6, 1971 and the next one would be 47 years from
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