Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The century's longest 'blood moon', or lunar eclipse, delighted many, if not all, skygazers 
 
 Skywatchers around the world have witnessed the longest "blood moon" eclipse of the 21st Century. 
 
 As it rose, during this total eclipse, Earth's natural satellite turned a striking shade of red or ruddy brown. 
 
 The "totality" period, where light from the Moon was totally obscured, lasted for one hour, 43 minutes. 
 
 At least part of the eclipse was visible from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, most of Asia and South America. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption The blood moon as seen in the Swiss Alps... 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption ... and in Kuala Lumpur 
 
 In the UK, where the weather allowed, the Moon could be seen to turn red - fully eclipsed by Earth - from when it rose at 21:00 until 22:15 BST. 
 
 Over the coming days, Mars will be at its closest point to Earth since 2003 - visible as a "bright red star" where skies are clear. 
 
 Why did the eclipse last so long? 
 
 The Moon passed right through the centre of the Earth's shadow, at the shadow's widest point. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Science behind the blood moon 
 
 "This is actually almost as long as a lunar eclipse could be," Prof Tim O'Brien, an astrophysicist at University of Manchester, explained. 
 
 It coincided not only with Mars's close approach, but with what he described as a "procession of planets" - a line-up of our celestial neighbours that gave skywatchers a particularly good view of Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption The blood moon beside a statue of ancient Greek goddess Hera and god Apollo in Athens 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The blood moon rises behind the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi 
 
 Eclipse terms 
 
 Umbra: The darker, central part of the Earth's shadow 
 
 Penumbra: The lighter, outer part of the shadow cast by our planet 
 
 Because the Moon is far away from Earth relatively speaking - its orbit is an ellipse, so it moves closer and further and looks larger and smaller from Earth. 
 
 Mars could also be seen as a bright red star just below the Moon. 
 
 Image copyright Graham Eva Image caption Mars (bottom right) could also be viewed in the sky 
 
 "Every couple of years or so, the Earth overtakes Mars on the inside as it orbits the Sun, so Mars is closest to us," said Prof O'Brien. 
 
 "And because of the elliptical shape of the orbit, it's even closer than normal." 
 
 Where was the eclipse visible? 
 
 Where skies were free of cloud, the spectacle was visible almost everywhere around the world, with the exception of North America. The eclipse had already started by the time the Moon rose over the UK and Western Europe. 
 
 People in the UK needed a clear south-eastern horizon as the Moon came up in order to see it. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption The blood moon over Sydney, Australia 
 
 The best views - where the weather permitted - were across Eastern Europe, Central and East Africa and South East Asia, from where the entire eclipse was visible. 
 
 So, from the UK and Europe, the south-east was the place to look for the rising, eclipsing Moon with a bright red Mars below. Jupiter could also be seen in the southern sky and Venus in the west. 
 
 Dr Emily Brunsden, director of the University of York's Astrocampus, added that this eclipse was a "micro blood moon". 
 
 "This is a total eclipse at a time in its orbit when it is close to being the farthest from Earth, or at apogee," she said. 
 
 "Hence the Moon was fractionally smaller than usual." 
 
 Stages of a total lunar eclipse 
 
 Penumbral eclipse begins: This starts when the outer (and lighter) part of the Earth's shadow begins moving across the Moon 
 
 This starts when the outer (and lighter) part of the Earth's shadow begins moving across the Moon Partial eclipse begins: This stage takes hold when the darker, inner part of the Earth's shadow (umbra) begins covering the Moon 
 
 This stage takes hold when the darker, inner part of the Earth's shadow (umbra) begins covering the Moon Total eclipse begins: Also called totality, this occurs when the umbra completely covers the Moon, turning it a reddish brown colour 
 
 Also called totality, this occurs when the umbra completely covers the Moon, turning it a reddish brown colour Maximum eclipse: The mid-point of totality 
 
 The mid-point of totality Total eclipse ends: The umbra starts moving away from the Moon's face after totality 
 
 The umbra starts moving away from the Moon's face after totality Partial eclipse ends: Earth's umbra completely leaves the surface of the Moon 
 
 Earth's umbra completely leaves the surface of the Moon Penumbral eclipse ends: The outer part of the shadow (penumbra) completely moves away from the Moon 
 
 Source: timeanddate.com 
 
 Did you see the "blood moon"? Send pictures or video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk 
 
 Please include your name and location when sending your pictures. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contribute your images in the following ways: ||||| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Skywatchers around much of the world are looking forward to a complete lunar eclipse that will be the longest this century. 
 
 The so-called "blood moon" Friday, when it turns a deep red, will be visible at different times in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America when the sun, Earth and moon line up perfectly, casting Earth's shadow on the moon. 
 
 The total eclipse will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, with the entire event lasting closer to four hours. 
 
 In a special treat, Mars is in opposition on Friday — meaning the planet and the sun will be on exact opposite sides of the Earth and will shine its best. Mars is also at its closest approach to Earth this week since 2003, making it appear bigger and brighter. ||||| MARS returns for a second season this fall on National Geographic. 
 
 Get ready for a celestial double feature unlike anything seen in decades: Mars is about to make its closest approach to Earth in 15 years—just as the full moon blushes red in the longest “blood moon” eclipse of the century. 
 
 Both the moon and Mars will dominate the overnight hours on July 27 and into the morning of July 28, traveling across the sky beside each other while appearing to be separated by only five degrees, equal to the width of three middle fingers held at arm’s length. (See our favorite photos of the blood moon eclipse from around the world.) 
 
 Watch Live: Longest Lunar Eclipse See the July 27 "blood moon" eclipse via timeanddate.live. timeanddate timeanddate 
 
 
 
 On the 27th, the red planet will reach opposition and be just a few days shy of swinging the closest it has come to Earth since August 2003, allowing sky-watchers around the world to see our neighboring world that night about as big and bright it can ever get in our skies. 
 
 And while you shouldn’t expect Mars to look as big as the full moon, as many online hoaxes in past years have suggested, you will also get to see the actual moon painted red as it undergoes a total lunar eclipse. 
 
 During a total eclipse, sunlight shining through Earth's dusty atmosphere is bent, or refracted, toward the red part of the spectrum as it is cast onto the moon's surface. As a result, expect to see the lunar disk go from a dark gray color when the eclipse starts to a reddish-orange color during totality. 
 
 Meeting Mars 
 
 At 1 a.m. ET (5:00 UT) on July 27, Mars will reach what astronomers call opposition. This is when the sun, Earth, and Mars are aligned in a straight path, so that Mars appears to rise in the east just as the sun sets in the west, making the sunlit side of the planet visible all night long. 
 
 Mars reaches opposition only once every 26 months, when Earth manages to overtake the planet in its tighter track around the sun. But unlike Earth’s more circular orbit, Mars’s path around the sun is fairly elliptical. That means the distance between the two worlds varies, making some oppositions better than others. 
 
 Mars will make its closest approach to Earth for this year on July 31, coming just 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers) away. Such a close approach just a few days after opposition means the July 27 alignment will be your best bet to see the red planet shine its biggest and brightest until 2035. (Here's how close encounters with Mars have helped us map the red planet.) 
 
 View Images An illustration shows the orbital paths of the inner planets, including Earth and Mars. SKYCHART BY A. FAZEKAS 
 
 The previous best encounter occurred 15 years ago, when Mars was a record-breaking 35 million miles (56 million kilometers) distant. Such an epic encounter won’t happen again until 2287. 
 
 In addition to offering beautiful views, opposition has traditionally set the stage for robotic invasions of Mars. Because of Mars’s proximity and alignment with our planet, the time around opposition is the best for sending spacecraft, saving travel time and fuel costs. For instance, NASA’s Insight lander launched on May 5 and is headed for a Mars landing this November. 
 
 Mars 101 From its blood-like hue to its potential to sustain life, Mars has intrigued humankind for thousands of years. Learn how the red planet formed from gas and dust and what its polar ice caps mean for life as we know it. 
 
 Many keen-eyed onlookers may have already noticed the fiery planet growing brighter in our night skies the past few months, making it easy to spot with nothing more than the naked eye. To track down the warrior planet for yourself, go outside after dusk on any clear night and look for the bright beacon rising above the eastern horizon. Mars will glide high over the southern sky throughout the night, setting in the west by dawn. 
 
 Most of the time, Mars is not much to look at through a telescope, but that changes during opposition, when the planet becomes a disk filled with tantalizing features. Even a small telescope with about a six-inch mirror will be able to tease out surface details like the southern ice cap (where astronomers may have just found an underground lake) and distinct, dark regions that are windswept, rocky fields. 
 
 However, a colossal dust storm has been raging for the past two months on Mars and has enveloped most of the planet, which means telescope views have been a bit hindered. But you can plainly see the effect of all this dust with the naked eye: Mars currently appears to shine with a more yellowish tinge rather than its usual rusty orange hue. 
 
 Mini Blood Moon 
 
 Also on July 27, fortunate sky-watchers in South America, Africa, Europe, Australia, and Asia will get to see at least part of the longest-lasting total lunar eclipse of the 21st century. The entire event will last nearly four hours, with the maximum eclipse lasting for one hour, 42 minutes, and 57 seconds from 19:30 to 21:13 UTC. 
 
 Lunar Eclipse 101 Nicknamed "blood moon," some ancient cultures regarded a total lunar eclipse as an ominous event. Today, this celestial phenomenon generates excitement and wonder. Unlike a solar eclipse, which may require travel to see, total lunar eclipses can often be observed from the entire nighttime-half of the Earth. Learn what causes a lunar eclipse and how it gains its crimson coloring. 
 
 North Americans will mostly miss out on this lunar eclipse, as the moon will not have risen yet. But the lunar display can be observed in its partial phases rising over South America, western Africa, and Europe and setting over Eastern Asia and Australia. The entire eclipse will be visible from eastern Africa and central Asia. 
 
 During a lunar eclipse, Earth casts its shadow on the moon. This doesn't happen every time the moon makes its monthly trek around Earth because the moon's orbit is tilted with respect to the planet, so the lunar orb usually glides above or below Earth's shadow. 
 
 Total lunar eclipses happen only during a full moon and only when the sun, Earth, and moon are precisely aligned so that our planet's shadow completely blankets the moon’s disk. This usually happens roughly twice a year and can be seen from only one hemisphere at a time. 
 
 Popularly known these days as blood moons, a total lunar eclipse can color the lunar orb differently depending on the amount of dust in Earth's atmosphere. Active volcanoes spewing tons of ash into the upper atmosphere, for instance, can trigger deep blood-red eclipses. But no one can predict exactly what color we'll see before each eclipse. (Also find out why the moon looks bigger near the horizon.) 
 
 No matter its hue, this blood moon will linger longer thanks to a celestial coincidence. First, the moon will be cutting through the center of Earth’s deep umbral shadow rather than glancing across the shadow’s edges. Second, the full moon will appear smaller and will be traveling a bit slower across our sky. 
 
 View Images The full moon and Mars will be separated by just five degrees on July 27. SKYCHART BY A. FAZEKAS 
 
 That’s because the moon will be at its most distant point from Earth in its month-long orbit—known as apogee—during the time of the eclipse. This apogee full moon has been dubbed a minimoon, the opposite of the more popular supermoon, which occurs when the moon is at its closest to Earth. 
 
 During this week’s eclipse, the apogee moon will make the lunar disk appear 13 percent smaller than average, and it will take a bit longer for it to glide through Earth’s shadow. We won’t get to see such a long totality again until June 9, 2123. 
 
 You don’t have to miss out if you are in the wrong region or if clouds ruin your view: You can still check out the eclipse online via live webcasts from Virtual Telescope, Slooh, and timeanddate.live. 
 
 Enjoy the show! ||||| On Friday, July 27, the full moon will pass through the shadow of the Earth. For 103 minutes, the usually silvery moon will turn blood red and ochre. It will be the longest “blood moon” lunar eclipse of the century, lasting 26 minutes longer than the last total lunar eclipse, in January. 
 
 Here’s the good news: The vast majority of people on planet Earth will be able to see this lunar eclipse. 
 
 Here’s the less good news: Those of us in North America (save for a slice of Newfoundland, Canada) will not see it at all. 
 
 Sadly, by the time night falls in North America and the full moon rises here, the eclipse will already have ended. The moon will have finished traversing Earth’s shadow, or umbra. We’ll have to wait until January 21, 2019, when the next full lunar eclipse will be viewable here. 
 
 For readers in Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America, all you have to do is go outside at 17:14 Universal time (1:14 pm ET) and look for the moon. That’s when the partial phase of the eclipse starts. The full eclipse begins at 19:30 UTC and then lasts a full hour and 43 minutes! (Check out precisely when the eclipse will occur where you live on TimeandDate.com.) 
 
 Enjoy! And tell us how it went! Tweet pictures to @voxdotcom. We won’t be totally jealous or anything. 
 
 If I can’t see it, can I at least live-stream it? 
 
 It’s 2018. You don’t have to do much without leaving your couch — eclipse viewing included. 
 
 The astronomy education website Slooh will live-stream coverage of the eclipse starting at 1 pm Eastern on July 27. Watch it right here. 
 
 The eclipse will still be very cool to watch, even just on YouTube. Here’s a time-lapse replay of the last full lunar eclipse in January. You can see the Earth slowly cast an orangey-red shadow on the moon. 
 
 For more outdoor sky-gazing opportunities this summer, check out our guide. July 27 is also the best day to view the planet Mars, as it will be directly in line with Earth and the sun. 
 
 Why do we have lunar eclipses? 
 
 The simple answer is “because the moon sometimes passes through the shadow of Earth.” But there’s more to it than that. 
 
 For one, it has to be a full moon. When the moon is full, it means the sun, Earth, and moon are in alignment, like so: 
 
 Now, you might be thinking: “Why don’t we have lunar eclipses every full moon?” 
 
 The moon’s orbit isn’t perfectly matched up with Earth’s. It’s tilted 5 degrees: 
 
 No one is completely sure why — but it might have to do with how the moon was likely formed: from a massive object smashing into Earth. 
 
 This means during most full moons, the shadow misses the moon, as you can see in the diagram above. 
 
 There are two points in the moon’s orbit where the shadow can fall on the Earth. These are called nodes. 
 
 For a total eclipse to occur, the moon needs to be at or very close to one of the nodes. 
 
 When the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned at a node, voila! The moon falls into the path of the Earth’s shadow. 
 
 There are usually two or three lunar eclipses in a given year, and everyone lucky enough to be on the night side of Earth during a lunar eclipse has a chance to witness it. 
 
 You don’t need any special equipment or protective glasses to view it (unlike with a total solar eclipse). But a pair of binoculars will give you a better, more detailed view of the moon’s geography as it darkens in shadow. 
 
 Why does the moon turn red during a lunar eclipse? 
 
 During a total solar eclipse — like the one North America saw last summer — the entire brighter-than-bright disc of the sun turns black, revealing the sun’s atmosphere. 
 
 What happens during a total lunar eclipse is a bit less dramatic, but beautiful nonetheless. 
 
 When sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the gases therein trap and scatter the blue light in the spectrum. (This is why the sky appears blue.) The red, orange, and yellow wavelengths pass through into Earth’s shadow and get projected onto the moon. 
 
 Basically, as Vox’s Joss Fong has explained, a total lunar eclipse is like projecting all the sunsets and sunrises onto the moon. 
 
 Watch: Eclipses, explained
– The punchline is a letdown: Yes, the longest "blood moon" eclipse of the 21st century will occur Friday night, but no, North America won't have a view of it, unless you happen to be in a specific part of Newfoundland, Canada, Vox reports. National Geographic explains it just comes down to timing. The best part of the four-hour event will run from 3:30pm to 5:13pm ET, at which point the moon hasn't risen yet here. Eastern Africa and central Asia will enjoy the longest view of the event, during which the sun, Earth, and moon will perfectly align, casting Earth's shadow on the moon and totally obscuring the moon's light for that 103-minute period and turning the moon a red or brownish shade. National Geographic explains we only get treated to total lunar eclipses about twice a year due to the moon's orbit. It's "tilted with respect to the planet, so the lunar orb usually glides above or below Earth's shadow," not directly in it. (Much more on that, with illustrations, here.) "This is actually almost as long as a lunar eclipse could be," an astrophysicist tells the BBC, and that's because the moon will travel through the dead center of the Earth's shadow, which is where that shadow is widest. As for when North America can next spy a lunar eclipse, mark your calendars for Jan. 21. The AP flags another "special treat" in the skies Friday: It's an extra good night to view Mars, as it's both in opposition and at its closest approach to us since 2003.