Longest Lunar Eclipse In Centuries Started, Los Angeles!

LOS ANGELES, CA — The longest lunar eclipse in nearly 600 years is finally here! It’s an almost a total eclipse, peaking at about 1 a.m. in the Los Angeles sky. It's an impressive one, lasting 3 hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds.

Although the eclipse lasts about 3½ hours from start to finish, most of the action takes place in a 2-hour span. Locally, the eclipse can be observed from about 11:19 p.m. Thursday, and the best times to see it will be between 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m.

Griffith Observatory is hosting an online broadcast of Thursday evening's historic near-total lunar eclipse.

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when part of the full moon falls under Earth's shadow. Usually, light from the sun paints the face of the moon a grayish-white. But when the eclipse peaks, our planet will block 98 percent of the sun’s light from reaching the moon’s surface, washing it in the reddish hue.

Griffith Observatory's broadcast is expected to run from 10 p.m. until 4:05 a.m. Friday. The observatory is not conducting onsite public viewing and the park will be closed during the broadcast. The eclipse will be streamed online but visibility depends on the skies.

The eclipse should be visible to the unaided eye from anywhere in the Southland. Unlike a solar eclipse, there's no potential harm caused by viewing the event without eye protection, and you do not need a telescope.

During the eclipse, the moon will appear a reddish-brown color. At its peak, around 1 a.m., over 97% of the moon will be in full shadow and only a small sliver of its left side will shine in the partial shadow of the Earth, according to NASA.

The moon turns red because the only sunlight reaching it passes through Earth's atmosphere. The more dust or clouds in the Earth's atmosphere at the time, the redder the moon will appear.

"It's as if all the world's sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon," according to NASA's website.

Stargazers can also look forward to next year, when an even longer total lunar eclipse is expected Nov. 8.

• Related: 2021 Guide To Meteor Showers And Other Celestial Events

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes through Earth's partial shadow, or penumbra, and only a portion of it passes through the darkest shadow, or umbra. A total or nearly total lunar eclipse like this one often is called a “blood moon” for this reason.

The November full moon, with our without an eclipse, is also called the full frost moon, sometimes called a full beaver or dark moon. All were terms used by Native American tribes, who gave distinctive names to the moons to mark the season. The frost moon is the last full moon of autumn.

This eclipse will be visible throughout most of North America, as well as eastern Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Mexico, Central America and parts of western South America.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Beth Dalby contributed to this report.