A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, June 15, 2011, with an umbral magnitude of 1.7014. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 4.1 days after perigee (on June 11, 2011, at 21:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
This was a relatively rare central lunar eclipse, where the Moon crossed the center of the Earth's shadow. The last time a lunar eclipse was closer to the center of the Earth's shadow was on July 16, 2000. The next central total lunar eclipse occurred on July 27, 2018.
