‘Blood Moon’ dazzles night skies in longest partial lunar eclipse in 581 years

The longest partial lunar eclipse in a millennium dazzled night skies around the world on Friday, in an event dubbed the “Blood Moon” due to its red haze.

The partial eclipse, which lasted three hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds, is the longest since February 18, 1440, according to Nasa.

Stunning views of the partial lunar eclipse could be seen in parts of the United States, Asia and South America.

The dramatic red is caused by a phenomenon known as “Rayleigh scattering”, where the shorter blue lightwaves from the sun are dispersed by particles in the Earth’s atmosphere.

During the eclipse, up to 99.1 per cent of the moon’s disk was within Earth’s darkest shadow, Nasa said.