Astronomers and sky watchers alike flocked to observation points on July 6 of 1982 to catch a rare glimpse of the longest lunar eclipse of the century.

The "Vulcan Eclipse," named after the roman God of fire and volcanoes, lasted two hours. It gave the moon a deep red colour, similar to the lunar eclipse in the evening of July 26, 2015.

The lunar eclipse occurs when the earth moves in between the sun and the moon. The moon becomes darkened by the earth's shadow.

Bill Peters, a former producer with the Manitoba Museum Planetarium, explained to CBC News in July of 1982 how the Vulcan Eclipse briefly produced a crimson-coloured moon.

"Imagine that you're standing on the moon looking back at the earth. As the moon moves into the earth's shadow, you on the moon would see the earth covering the sun. Now, our earth is surrounded by an atmosphere, and the sun lights up this atmosphere, and so someone standing on the moon would see a glowing, brilliant, crimson halo all around the edge of the earth — a sunset ringing the earth," Peters said.

"It's this sunset on the earth that casts its red light on the moon."

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