The rare and magnificent spectacle of the longest total eclipse of the Moon of this century with the simultaneous great and glowing opposition of Mars with the sun, in the extraordinary setting of the Parco archeologico del Colosseo: an event of exceptional beauty, unique worldwide.

With the moon at its greatest distance from the earth, the eclipse had a total phase of no less than 103 minutes, the longest in the 21st century. On the same night, the planet Mars reached its opposition to the Sun, an ideal condition of visibility for the Red Planet. It was what is called a “great opposition”, with Mars glowing brightly in the sky.

For this reason, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Parco archeologico del Colosseo and the Virtual Telescope Project organized an extraordinary evening for July 27 from a place of immeasurable historical and cultural value: the Temple of Venus and Rome,  not far from the Flavian Amphitheater and the Arch of Constantine.

The eclipse was transmitted in live streaming through Virtual Telescope technologies, to share this spectacular and unrepeatable event with the public around the world.