The longest lunar eclipse on June 15

Bangalore: The year 2011 is going to experience the the longest and the darkest lunar eclipse, and the whole of India will be fortunate enough to be part of it. It will occur on the night of June 15, and is going to last for 100 minutes. Other than India, it will be visible from the eastern half of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia and Western Australia; however it will not be visible from North America. The eclipse can be viewed safely without glasses. In most of the lunar eclipse, the Moon turns brown, but this time it is predicted that the moon will turn almost dark as it works its way as to the dark part of Earth's shadow, which is also called as Umbra. The eclipse will begin at 12.52 am and it will reach its peak at 1.42 am and it will end at 2.32 am. Last time the Moon passed through the umbra, which was visible from India was 40 years back on August 6, 1971. The next lunar eclipse, also to be visible from India, will be a total one on December 10 this year but will last only 25 minutes. According to NASA, in 2011, four partial solar and two total lunar eclipses are set to take place, which is very rare. And it will only happen six times in the 21 century that is in 2011, 2029, 2047, 2065, 2076, and 2094. It will be a great opportunity to view the longest lunar eclipse. Ajay Talwar, astro-photographer , said, "In areas far away from the glare of city lights, the eclipsed Moon should appear like a dark round void in the sky, however, in big cities the Moon is likely to become invisible during most of the total phase."