Pakistan to witness longest Blood Moon on Sunday

ISLAMABAD: Stargazers in Pakistan are in for a rare treat as the night sky will light up with a blood-red Moon as the longest total lunar eclipse since 2022 unfolds on September 7–8, 2025.

The celestial event will begin at 8:28 pm (PST) on September 7 (Sunday). The total eclipse, when the Moon turns its deepest red, will start at 10:30 pm and last until 11:52 pm.

The entire event will end in the early hours of September 8 (Monday) at 1:55 am.

Pakistan will witness two lunar and two solar eclipses in 2025

The eclipse will be visible across most of Asia, including Pakistan, as well as Africa, Europe, and Australia. NASA says over 6 billion people will be able to witness the totality from start to finish.

The Americas will mostly miss out, because it will be daytime, but Hawaii, a slice of Alaska, and a slice of Brazil will have a chance to see at least a partial eclipse.

This phenomenon occurs when Earth perfectly aligns between the Sun and the Moon.

As Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon, sunlight passing through our atmosphere filters out shorter wavelengths, leaving behind only red light, the same effect that paints the sky crimson at sunset.

The whole eclipse will last for nearly five and a half hours, with the total red phase stretching for 1 hour and 22 minutes.

Astronomers say lunar eclipses come in pairs with solar eclipses. This one will be followed by a partial solar eclipse on September 21, though that will not be visible in Pakistan.

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Although planets and moons exist throughout the solar system, only Earth gets to witness total lunar eclipses because its shadow is big enough to fully cover the Moon. But this won’t last forever. The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth at a rate of about 1.6 inches (4 cm) per year. NASA says there are around two to four lunar eclipses annually, each visible from roughly half the planet.