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The Universe’s Longest-Lasting Stellar Eclipse Spans 3.5 Years

On Earth, the longest solar eclipse lasts around 7 minutes.

A team of astronomers have found the ultimate stellar eclipse: While it only takes place once every 69 Earth-years, it lasts a whopping three and a half years at a time. Publishing in the Astronomical Journal, the team from Vanderbilt and Harvard combed through more than 10,000 photographic plates to make their discovery, some dating back as far as 1890, and found some fascinating data. This super-eclipse happens in a binary star system 10,000 light years away from Earth. They expect the next eclipse will happen in the system sometime around the year 2080.