PARIS - Astronomers in parts of Europe, Africa, Central Asia and Australia expect clear skies on Wednesday to enjoy a total lunar eclipse, the first of 2011 and the longest in nearly 11 years.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth casts its shadow on the moon.
Lunar face sometimes orange-red, copper or brown, tinged with sunlight refracted as it passes through our atmosphere.
Earth's shadow begins to fall in 1724 GMT and lifts at 2300 GMT, while the "whole" - when the moon is completely covered her face - stretching from 1922 to 2102 GMT, according to NASA's veteran eclipse-observer Fred Espenak.
The period of 100 minutes of totality is the longest since July 2000.
"Observers from across Europe will miss the early stages of the eclipse because it occurs before moonrise. Fortunately, everything looks across the continent, except in northern Scotland and northern Scandinavia. "
East Asia, eastern Australia and New Zealand will miss the final phase of the eclipse, because they occur after moonset.
Totality will be visible from eastern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. None of the eclipse will be visible from North America, however.
The next total lunar eclipse is on 10 December.
Partial solar eclipse on 1 July and 25 November. The next total solar eclipse will take place on November 13, 2012, on a running track across North, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific and southern South America.
