Total lunar eclipse of July 2018. Time-lapse montage of fifteen images showing the progression (from top left to bottom right) of the total lunar eclipse of 27 July 2018. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon. At totality, the light from the Moon (sunlight reflected from the Moon after passing through the Earth's atmosphere) turns orange due to shorter wavelengths, such as blue light, being scattered more in Earth's atmosphere than longer wavelengths, such as red light. This eclipse took around 4 hours, with totality lasting for 1 hour and 43 minutes. Photographed from Namibia.