MAD NEWS: Total lunar eclipse (Chand Grahan) Tonight (Wed-Thu, June 15-16) - - One of the darkest and longest lunar eclipse (Watch Live Webcast)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Total lunar eclipse (Chand Grahan) Tonight (Wed-Thu, June 15-16) - - One of the darkest and longest lunar eclipse (Watch Live Webcast)

One of the longest and darkest total lunar eclipse tonight

FAISALABAD, Pakistan (June 15) – A total lunar eclipse will be observed tonight (Wednesday-Thursday); which is regarded as the longest and the darkest lunar eclipse in past 11 years. Total lunar eclipse occurs when moon passes directly through the centre of the Earth’s shadow cone.

Total lunar eclipse (Chand Grahan) will be visible in Pakistan, India, Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and western parts of Australia.

According to the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO); the eclipse will begin at 11:23pm on Wednesday and end at around 3.02am on Thursday.

The total eclipse is expected to last 100 minutes, starting at around 12:22am. According to NASA, the last longest total lunar eclipse occurred in 2000 and lasted 107 minutes. The next total lunar eclipse will occur in 2018.

Being described as one of the ‘darkest’ eclipses, this is the first lunar eclipse to have occurred this year, and one of the two in the world’s 2011 calendar, says NASA. The next lunar eclipse, also to be visible from Pakistan will happen on December 10, 2011.

If you are among the astronomy enthusiasts; this is one of the best chances to gaze through the skies for spectacular images of ‘Red Moon’. You can use following links to watch the ‘Total Lunar Eclipse on June 15-16’ directly on your PC screens.

Here's a listing of scheduled eclipse webcasts. Some of these links might be duds, due to cloudy weather, technical glitches or plug-in requirements. But let's hope that at least a few will serve up a good show: