JEDDAH — The skies over Saudi Arabia witnessed a rare Blood Moon total lunar eclipse on Sunday evening. The moon turns a deep crimson as the earth's shadow passes over it, visible across Saudi Arabia and much of the Arab world. The lunar eclipse was fully visible in the Kingdom as well as in Asia, Africa, and parts of Australia and Europe, lasting around 83 minutes and making it one of the longest in recent years. The partial eclipse began at 7:27 p.m. Saudi time, with the total eclipse starting at 8:30 p.m. and ending at 9:53 p.m. The entire event concluded at 11:57 p.m. When the lunar eclipse has reached its peak, the moon is fully immersed in earth's shadow. The Blood Moon glows in different hues of red and copper, giving sky-gazers a spectacular view. Astronomy enthusiasts and photographers flocked to witness this rare phenomenon, the length and scope of which has not been seen since 2018. The partial eclipse began as the moon gradually entered the earth's shadow before transforming into a total eclipse, which lasted for hours. This provided a golden opportunity to observe the phenomenon with the naked eye, in addition to using telescopes and astronomical cameras. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is positioned between the sun and the moon, causing the moon to pass into the earth's shadow. Jeddah Astronomical Society President Eng. Majed Abu Zahra said that the red color the moon acquires during the eclipse occurred as a result of the refraction of sunlight on the earth's atmosphere. Blue wavelengths are filtered out, leaving red and orange to illuminate the lunar surface. "Although the eclipse only occurs during a full moon, the moon's orbit is tilted about 5 degrees from the earth's orbit around the sun, which means that the earth often does not completely block sunlight from the moon except on specific occasions." Abu Zahra said that the September 7 eclipse was one of the longest eclipses this decade, with its total phase lasting for approximately more than an hour, which allowed observers the opportunity to record sequential images and videos of the various phases of the eclipse. Astrophotographers took advantage of this event to record high-resolution images and videos of the eclipse phases, using telescopes equipped with digital cameras and photographic processing techniques to illustrate the gradual movement of the earth's shadow across the lunar surface, from partial to full, and then back again.
