From inCyprus 3 August 2017
Cyprus will witness a partial lunar eclipse on Monday night which will be the first astronomical phenomenon of the summer and will see the moon turn red.
According to Chrysanthos Fakas, who is the President of the Cyprus Astronomical Society, the event will be visible with the naked throughout the island after sundown.
“During a lunar eclipse, the earth moves between the moon and the sun and subsequently hides the moon from the sun, in other words, the moon is shaded by the earth,” explains Fakas. “The phenomenon starts at 8.22pm on Monday when the moon will slowly start changing colour turning reddish instead of becoming invisible,” explained Fakas.
The peak of the lunar eclipse will be noted at 9:20pm while the moon is expected to start moving out of the earth’s shadow at 10:18pm.
On the occasion of the phenomenon, the Fakas Institute observatory in Nicosia will be open to the public who can witness the eclipse as well as the planets Jupiter and Saturn through the institute’s telescope.