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On Saturday afternoon, shortly after 5 pm we will have the opportunity to see an impressive blood-stained Moon.

I am talking about the last full lunar eclipse for 2011, which will start at about 1.33 pm, i.e. while the Earth's natural satellite will be located below our horizon.

«The full phase of this phenomenon may not be visible in Greece, but we will still be able to see the moon obscured by the veil of Earth's shadow, which will stain its surface with the typical for the partial eclipse, brick-red colour», explains the director of the New digital Planetarium of the "Evgenidou" Foundation, Dionysis Simopoulos.

«Although not as spectacular as the full solar eclipse, the full lunar eclipse is also one of the most beautiful sights that we can observe in the sky. This is true because while the moon is hidden behind the shadow of the Earth, the reflection of the sunlight on our planet "stains" our satellite with a strange shade of brick red and thus the moon looks "blood-stained"», adds Mr. Simopoulos.

Red spectacle with three main characters

As the director of the New Digital Planetarium explains, the lead characters in the eclipse will be three in total: the Sun, the Moon and the Earth.

«In order to have an eclipse the three celestial bodies need to stand in line. Therefore despite the fact that the moon orbits the Earth almost once a month, we do not observe an eclipse each month. To understand why this happens, let's imagine that a straight line passes through the centre of the Sun and Earth and continues on the other side. If the Moon, passed through this line while orbiting the Earth, then we would have eclipses every month, both solar and lunar» he explains.

According to Mr. Simopoulos within a year up to seven lunar and solar eclipses may occur, as happened in 1935 when there were 5 solar and 2 lunar eclipses, and in 1982, with 4 solar and three lunar eclipses.

Conversely, within 365 days at least two eclipses may be observed, and they would be solar, as happened in 1984. Despite the fact that lunar eclipses usually precede or follow after the solar eclipses with a difference of 15 days, solar eclipses are more frequent.

The moon will remain hidden behind the Earth until 7.30 pm and the "blood-stained" satellite of our planet will be visible from all over Greece.