A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth comes between the sun and the moon so that all or part of the sun’s light is blocked from the moon. Today’s eclipse is important because of how long it will last. “The total phase itself lasts 100 minutes. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000,” astrophysicist Fred Espenak wrote in NASA’s eclipse guide for 2011.

The entire eclipse will be visible from the eastern half of Africa, the Middle East, central Asia, and western Australia. Eastern Asia, eastern Australia, and New Zealand will miss the last stages of eclipse because they occur after moonset. North America can watch the eclipse at youtube.com/google.