Prayers were held in the Two Holy Mosques and thousands of other mosques in Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom witnessed a partial lunar eclipse on Saturday night. King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology held an open night for astronomy enthusiasts and provided them with access to all of its facilities to watch the event. In addition to providing state-of-the-art telescopes for enthusiasts, KACST also held an exhibition where expert astronomers answered questions and held seminars on the event. A lunar eclipse is the partial or total dimming of the Moon because the Earth passes right between it and the sun, obscuring the sun's rays from the surface of its satellite. Saturday night's event, as seen from the Kingdom, began at 10:36 P.M. Kingdom's time. The eclipse peaked out at 12:10 A.M. Sunday morning, with the Moon's light reflection dimming by about 70 percent compared to normal. The Moon was clear of Earth's shadow by 1:44 A.M.
