NANJING - Chinese stargazers will have their best view of a total lunar eclipse in 10 years on Saturday if weather permits, the Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said Thursday.

Wang Sichao, a research fellow with the observatory, said during the total eclipse, the full moon will not completely disappear from the Earth's shadow, but will take on a brilliant bronze color.

He said the eclipse will be the best one seen in China since the last one occurred on January 10, 2001.

"Theoretically, viewers can observe the eclipse from nearly everywhere in the country on Saturday," said the astronomer.

He said the eclipse, the second this year, will last for 51 minutes. It will start at 8:45 pm and reach its climax at 10:06 pm.

Wang said Chinese viewers will have to wait until Oct 8, 2014 to see the next total lunar eclipse.