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Blood Moon dazzles star gazers in longest lunar eclipse of 21st century

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A lunar eclipse of a full "Blood Moon" rises behind the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates July 27, 2018. (Reuters)
Updated 28 July 2018
Arab News
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Blood Moon dazzles star gazers in longest lunar eclipse of 21st century

  • The total eclipse will last 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial eclipse precedes and follows
  • The next lunar eclipse of such a length is due in 2123
Updated 28 July 2018
Arab News

DUBAI/JEDDAH: A blood-red moon dazzled star gazers across much of the world on Friday when it moved into Earth’s shadow for the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st Century.
From the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East, and from the Kremlin to Sydney Harbor, thousands of people turned their eyes to the stars to watch the moon, which turned dark before shining orange, brown and crimson in the shadow.
The total eclipse lasted 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial eclipse preceded and follows, meaning the moon will spend a total of nearly 4 hours in the Earth’s umbral shadow, according to NASA.
The fullest eclipse was visible from Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia and Australia though clouds blocked out the moon in some places.
The eclipse will not be visible from North America or most of the Pacific.
Reuters charted the eclipse from across the world, capturing a shimmering orange and red moon above Cairo, the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounion, near Athens, the Bavarian village of Raisting in Germany, Rio beach in Brazil and Johannesburg.

11:00 p.m. GMT`
In Nairobi, Kenyans watched as the moon darkened.
“This is what life is all about: Magical moments like this,” said Teddy Muthusi as he watched from Uhuru Park in Nairobi. “It’s just beautiful. It’s well worth it.”
On the banks of India’s Ganges, temples were closed ahead of the eclipse. Enthusiasts watched through telescopes at the Marina South Pier in Singapore and at the Al Sadeem Observatory in Al Wathba near Abu Dhabi.

View our photo gallery: Night of the ‘Blood Moon’

Across Africa people turned to the sky, watching the reddish shadow slide up the moon’s surface. In Somalia, some hurried to mosques for special prayers. In South Sudan, some dared to take photos in a war-torn country where using a camera in public is discouraged.
In Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, people at an open-air restaurant admired a rare clear view during the rainy season, comparing a live NASA webcast to what they saw above. Then clouds rolled in.
“Dem yelebesech chereka,” some murmured — Amharic for “blood moon.”
“The reason that the moon turns red is because atmospheric scattering causes red light to pass through the atmosphere and the composition of the atmosphere can change if volcanic eruptions or forest fires occur,” said Tom Kerss, an astronomer with the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
“And the density of dust increasing in the atmosphere can cause the moon to appear a particularly deep red, and indeed it has the same effect on our sunsets and sunrises.”In a special treat, Mars is also at its closest approach to Earth this week since 2003, making it appear bigger and brighter.
Excited skywatchers on social media shared photos of the bright planet just to the right of the moon.
North America missed out on Friday’s lunar eclipse but can look forward to the next one on Jan. 21, 2019, according to NASA.Hundreds of people in Australia paid to watch the eclipse from the Sydney Observatory before sunrise.
When the moon moved into the conical shadow of the earth, it went from being illuminated by the sun to being dark. Some light, though, still reaches it because it is bent by the Earth’s atmosphere.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.

09:35 pm GMT

 

06:14 pm GMT

 

The longest “blood moon” eclipse this century began on Friday, coinciding with Mars’ closest approach in 15 years to treat skygazers across the globe to a thrilling celestial spectacle.
Unlike with a solar eclipse, viewers will need no protective eye gear to observe the rare display.
For about half the world, the moon will be partly or fully in Earth’s shadow from 1714 to 2328 GMT — six hours and 14 minutes in all.
The period of complete eclipse — known as “totality,” when the moon appears darkest — will last from 1930 to 2113 GMT.
At the same time, Mars will hover near the moon in the night sky, easily visible with the naked eye.
Amateur astronomers in the southern hemisphere will be best-placed to enjoy the spectacle, especially those in southern Africa, Australia, India and Madagascar, though it will also be partly visible in Europe and South America.

05:50 pm GMT

A total lunar eclipse happens when Earth takes position in a straight line between the moon and sun, blotting out the direct sunlight that normally makes our satellite glow whitish-yellow.
The moon travels to a similar position every month, but the tilt of its orbit means it normally passes above or below the Earth’s shadow — so most months we have a full moon without an eclipse.
When the three celestial bodies are perfectly lined up, however, the Earth’s atmosphere scatters blue light from the sun while refracting or bending red light onto the moon, usually giving it a rosy blush.

The long duration of this eclipse is partly due to the fact that the moon will make a near-central passage through Earth’s umbra — the darkest, most central part of the shadow.
Our constant companion will also be at the farthest point on its orbit from Earth, making its movement across the sky slower from our perspective, thus spending longer in the dark.
NASA, meanwhile, has called out social media hoaxers claiming that Mars will appear as big as the moon during the eclipse.
“If that were true, we’d be in big trouble given the gravitational pulls on Earth, Mars, and our moon!” the NASA website states.
Mars will more likely appear as a very bright star.

03:30 pm GMT

Across the world, from the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower, people will turn their eyes to the sky, hoping to see the blood moon, which appears orange, brown or crimson as sunlight is bent through the earth’s atmosphere.
The total eclipse will last 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial eclipse precedes and follows, meaning the moon will spend a total of 3 hours and 54 minutes in the earth’s umbral shadow, according to NASA.
The fullest eclipse, at 2022 GMT, will be visible from Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, much of Asia and Australia.


When the moon moves into the conical shadow of the earth, it goes from being illuminated by the sun to being dark. Some light, though, will still reach it because it is bent by the earth’s atmosphere.
At the same time, Mars will be traveling closer to earth than it has been since 2003, so some observers may be able to see what looks like an orange-red star — and is in fact the red planet.
 

Topics: lunar eclipse blood moon

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Ukraine’s Sumy region on edge as Russian advance closes in

Updated 3 sec ago
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Ukraine’s Sumy region on edge as Russian advance closes in

Updated 3 sec ago
STETS’KIVKA: Despite the driving rain, a few elderly residents wander into the streets of Stetskivka in northeast Ukraine to catch a yellow bus to go shopping in nearby Sumy, the regional capital.
They are worried about the Russian drones that have been striking the area with increasing regularity, more than three years into Moscow’s invasion.
“I’m afraid. Nobody knows what could happen to the bus we take,” Galyna Golovko, 69, told AFP at the small shop she runs near the bus stop.
Golovko said she never goes out in the morning or evening when Russian drones criss-cross the sky.
“It’s scary how many drones fly in the morning.... In the morning and in the evening it’s just hell,” she said.
The border with the neighboring Russian region of Kursk is just 17 kilometers (11 miles) away.
The Sumy region was the starting point for a Ukrainian incursion into Kursk last year.
Ukraine held swathes of the territory for eight months, until a spring offensive by Russian forces supported by North Korean troops pushed them back.
Moscow has since advanced toward the city of Sumy, taking several villages along the way and forcing mandatory evacuations of civilian residents.
At the Stetskivka bus stop, an elderly woman said she had packed up in case Russian troops arrive in town, where Ukrainian soldiers have replaced a pre-war population of 5,500 people.
The town is just 10 kilometers from the front line, and residents said there is heavy fighting nearby.
Beyond Stetskivka, “everything has been destroyed, there is not a single village,” Golovko said.
On her shop counter, there was a plastic box with a few banknotes — donations for a local family that lost its home, destroyed by a Russian glide bomb.


Ten kilometers to the south lies Sumy, a city that had 255,000 inhabitants before the war.
So far, restaurants are crowded and there seems little concern about the Russian advance.
But buildings in the city bear the scars of Russian bombardments.
And, when the sounds of car horns go down in the evenings, explosions can be heard in the distance.
The streets are lined with concrete bunkers against the increasingly frequent strikes from Russia, which has said it wants to set up a “buffer zone” to prevent future Ukrainian incursions.
“The enemy is trying to advance,” said Anvar, commander of the drone battalion of the 225th regiment, which is leading the defense of the region.
“We are pushing them back. Sometimes we advance, sometimes they do,” he told AFP in an apartment that serves as a base for his unit.
“We still have troops in the Kursk region. Nobody has tried to drive them out,” he said, calling the conflict in the region a “war of positions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said the Russian offensive in Sumy had been stopped, just a day after Russian forces said they had captured another village in the region.


Sitting next to Anvar, one of his men soldered microprocessors in silence, except for electronic clicking that made the room feel like a laboratory.
Surrounded by 3D printers and piles of batteries, the members of the brigade are busy transforming Chinese drones into flying weapons.
“It is now a drone war,” the commander said.
Anvar said that Russia was continually sending “cannon fodder” along this part of the front to try and overwhelm Ukrainian troops.
“I know people who have gone mad because of the number of people they manage to kill in a day.”
Russian soldiers “continue marching calmly” amid the bodies of their fallen comrades, he said.
In Stetskivka, Golovko voiced confidence that Ukrainian soldiers would hold the line and said she was “not going anywhere.”
“I will stay at home,” she said tearfully, beating the counter with her fist.
“I have traveled to Russia. We have friends there, and relatives. Everything was fine before.
“One day, this madness will end. The madness that Putin unleashed will end,” she said in a shaky voice.
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‘Hidden treasure’: Rare Gandhi portrait up for UK sale in July

Updated 14 min 56 sec ago
AFP
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‘Hidden treasure’: Rare Gandhi portrait up for UK sale in July

  • Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in India’s history, led a non-violent movement against British rule
  • 1931 painting by British-American artist Clare Leighton is believed to be the only oil portrait Gandhi sat for
Updated 14 min 56 sec ago
AFP

LONDON: A rare oil painting of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, which is believed to have been damaged by a Hindu nationalist activist, is to be auctioned in London in July.

Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in India’s history, led a non-violent movement against British rule and inspired similar resistance campaigns across the world.

He is the subject of tens of thousands of artworks, books and films.

But a 1931 painting by British-American artist Clare Leighton is believed to be the only oil portrait he sat for, according to the painter’s family and Bonhams, where it will be auctioned online from July 7 to 15.

“Not only is this a rare work by Clare Leighton, who is mainly known for her wood engravings, it is also thought to be the only oil painting of Mahatma Gandhi which he sat for,” said Rhyanon Demery, Bonhams Head of Sale for Travel and Exploration.

The painting is a “likely hidden treasure,” Caspar Leighton, the artist’s great-nephew, told AFP.

Going under the hammer for the first time next month, the painting is estimated to sell for between £50,000 and £70,000 ($68,000 and $95,000).

Clare Leighton met Gandhi in 1931, when he was in London for talks with the British government on India’s political future.

She was part of London’s left-wing artistic circles and was introduced to Gandhi by her partner, journalist Henry Noel Brailsford.

“I think there was clearly a bit of artistic intellectual courtship that went on,” said Caspar, pointing out that his great-aunt and Gandhi shared a “sense of social justice.”

The portrait, painted at a crucial time for India’s independence struggle, “shows Gandhi at the height of his power,” added Caspar.

It was exhibited in London in November 1931, following which Gandhi’s personal secretary, Mahadev Desai, wrote to Clare: “It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr.Gandhi’s portrait.”

“Many of my friends who saw it in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness,” reads a copy of the letter attached to the painting’s backing board.

The painting intimately captures Gandhi’s likeness but it also bears reminders of his violent death.

Gandhi was shot at point-blank range in 1948 by disgruntled Hindu nationalist activist Nathuram Godse, once closely associated with the right-wing paramilitary organization RSS.

Godse and some other Hindu nationalist figures accused Gandhi of betraying Hindus by agreeing to the partition of India and the creation of Muslim-majority Pakistan.

According to Leighton’s family, the painting was attacked with a knife by a “Hindu extremist” believed to be an RSS activist, in the early 1970s.

Although there is no documentation of the attack, a label on the back of the painting confirms that it was restored in the United States in 1974.

Under UV light, Demery pointed out the shadow of a deep gash running across Gandhi’s face where the now-restored painting was damaged.

“It feels very deliberate,” she said.

The repairs “add to the value of the picture in a sense... to its place in history, that Gandhi was again attacked figuratively many decades after his death,” said Caspar.

The only other recorded public display of the painting was in 1978 at a Boston Public Library exhibition of Clare Leighton’s work.

After Clare’s death, the artwork passed down to Caspar’s father and then to him.

“There’s my family’s story but the story in this portrait is so much greater,” he said.

“It’s a story for millions of people across the world,” he added.

“I think it’d be great if it got seen by more people. Maybe it should go back to India — maybe that’s its real home.”

Unlike countless depictions of the man known in India as the “father of the nation” — in stamps, busts, paraphernalia and recreated artwork — “this is actually from the time,” said Caspar.

“This might be really the last truly significant picture of Gandhi to emerge from that time.”

Topics: Mahatma Gandhi

Cyprus says it has been asked by Iran to convey ‘some messages’ to Israel

Updated 25 min 39 sec ago
Reuters
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Cyprus says it has been asked by Iran to convey ‘some messages’ to Israel

Updated 25 min 39 sec ago
Reuters

NICOSIA: Iran has asked Cyprus to convey “some messages” to Israel, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday, as the east Mediterranean island appealed for restraint in a rapidly escalating crisis in the Middle East.
Christodoulides spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and he has also spoken to the leaders of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Greece, his office said.
Earlier, Christodoulides told journalists Iran had asked Cyprus to convey ‘some messages’ to Israel but he did not say who specifically the messages were from or what they said.
Cypriot officials offered no clarity on the nature of the messages, which came after the Cypriot foreign minister spoke to his Iranian counterpart on Friday night.
Christodoulides also said he was not happy with what he said was a slow reaction by the European Union to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East.
Cyprus, the EU member situated closest to the Middle East, had asked for an extraordinary meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, he said. Projectiles sent by Iran to strike Israel were visible from various locations across Cyprus on Friday and Saturday night.
“It is not possible for the EU to claim a geopolitical role, to see all these developments and for there not to be at the very least a convening of the Council of Foreign Ministers,” Christodoulides told journalists.
Cyprus has offered to assist in the evacuation of third-party nationals from the region, and has called on all sides to refrain from actions which could escalate the conflict.

Topics: Cyprus Israel Iran war

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Hajj operations set ‘global benchmark’ in crowd management: Sri Lanka envoy

Crowds of pilgrims gather in Mina to perform Hajj rituals on June 7, 2025. (SPA)
Updated 33 min 47 sec ago
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Hajj operations set ‘global benchmark’ in crowd management: Sri Lanka envoy

  • Almost 1.7m people undertook Hajj pilgrimage this year
  • Saudi authorities used AI systems to manage pilgrim flow
Updated 33 min 47 sec ago
Mohammed Rasooldeen

COLOMBO: Saudi Arabia’s organization of this year’s Hajj has set a new standard in crowd management through the use of advanced technologies, Sri Lanka’s envoy said on Sunday, as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims started to return home.

In the 2025 Hajj season, almost 1.7 million people undertook the spiritual journey that is one of the tenets of Islam. More than 1.5 million arrived in the Kingdom from abroad, according to data from the General Authority for Statistics.

Pilgrims started to arrive in May, ahead of the main rituals which this year fell on June 6-10. Many have already departed for their countries of origin but special post-Hajj flights will continue to operate until mid-July.

The way the temporary influx of people has been handled by the Kingdom has “set a global benchmark in crowd management and smart innovation,” said Ameer Ajwad, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the Kingdom, who this year was part of his country’s Hajj contingent.

Technology has played a key role in monitoring footage from more than 15,000 cameras installed in and around the holy city of Makkah.

The monitoring systems were designed to detect unusual crowd movements and anticipate bottlenecks in foot traffic to help prevent stampedes.

“The Kingdom set an exemplary global benchmark for crowd management by using AI-based crowd monitoring, predictive analytics as well as preventing unauthorized entries,” Ajwad told Arab News.

“Innovations by using advanced technologies such smart tents, digital tools and AI systems were also introduced to facilitate this year’s Hajj arrangements.”

More than 420,000 workers from the public and private sectors, including security services, served pilgrims during this year’s Hajj, GASTAT data shows.

The envoy highlighted the “tireless services rendered by the Saudi security and military officers, as well as guides and volunteers,” and extended gratitude to the Ministry of Health for “providing world-class healthcare services to the Hajj pilgrims (from) around the globe, including heart surgery for a Sri Lankan pilgrim.”

About 3,500 Sri Lankans took part in the pilgrimage this year. Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the 22 million population of the island nation, which is predominantly Buddhist.

Topics: Hajj2025 Sri Lanka Ameer Ajwad

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Greenland is a European territory, says French foreign minister

Updated 15 June 2025
AFP
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Greenland is a European territory, says French foreign minister

Updated 15 June 2025
AFP

PARIS: Greenland is a European territory and it is normal that Europe and France show their interest, French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Barrot told RTL radio on Sunday when asked about French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the Arctic island.
Macron visits Greenland on Sunday, in a show of solidarity with Denmark that is meant to send a signal of European resolve after US President Donald Trump threatened to take over the island.

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Latest updates

Ukraine’s Sumy region on edge as Russian advance closes in
‘Hidden treasure’: Rare Gandhi portrait up for UK sale in July
Pakistan launches new pharma export council to boost overseas sales
Iran denies asking Cyprus to convey messages to Israel
Greenland is a European territory, says French foreign minister

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