TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) stated that the total lunar eclipse on July 28 would occur in the early morning in the western part of the sky. “The eclipse phase will start at 01:24 a.m. until 05:19 a.m.,” said LAPAN head Thomas Djamaluddin on Thursday, July 26.

According to Thomas, the total lunar eclipse at full moon is commonly referred to as the micro-moon. For Muslims, they can perform the eclipse prayer in that time span. The total phase will last for 107 minutes from 02:30 a.m. to 04:13 a.m. “[This will be] the longest [lunar eclipse] in this century,” he said.

Read: Lapan: Decade`s Longest Total Lunar Eclipse to Occur in July 28

During the total lunar eclipse, Thomas added, the moon would appear in a blood red color. The color is due to the refraction of sunlight by the earth’s atmosphere so that the red color of the sun hit the full moon. "So, people often call this end-of-July phenomenon as the micro-blood-moon,” he said.

Read: The Differences Between Lunar Eclipses, Supermoon, Bluemoon

Thomas suggests that the current position of the moon is the farthest from the earth. However, the lunar path is very close to the center line of the earth’s shadow circle. These factors will make the full moon to stay longer in the darkness of the earth’s shadow.

During the total lunar eclipse, Thomas also suggested observing the position above the moon. There are some points of the meteor shower called the Southern Delta Aquarids (about 20 meteors per hour) and Piscis Austrinis (about five meteors per hour).

IRSYAN HASYIM