CAIRO, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- A total eclipse of the moon will be viewed in Egypt and some other Arab countries on Thursday dawn, Egypt's MENA news agency reported on Wednesday.

    The eclipse is expected to last 50 minutes and will be witnessed clearly in the northern parts of Africa, Europe, Atlantic Ocean and most parts of Northern and Southern Americas, Salah Mohamed Mahmoud, chairman of Egypt's National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics was quoted as saying.

    It will be the first lunar eclipse in 2008, after which a partial eclipse is expected to take place in Egypt on Aug. 16, Mahmoud added.

    Earlier, U.S. space agency NASA forecasted on Tuesday that residents of the Americas, Europe and Africa will have the best view of a total lunar eclipse in the late night hours of Feb. 20,

    A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth lines up directly between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow over the moon's surface.