Partial lunar eclipse to occur tonight and its impact on zodiacs
celestial spectacle awaits skygazers and astronomy enthusiasts as a partial lunar eclipse is set to take place tonight.
The India Meteorological Department's Positional Astronomy Centre has announced that the moon will enter the penumbra, a dark area on the earth caused by the moon, at midnight on the night of Saturday and Sunday. The umbral phase will begin in the early hours of Sunday.
The spectacle will be visible from all corners of India, with the best viewing time around midnight. This partial lunar eclipse will also be visible in a vast region spanning the Western Pacific Ocean, Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa, eastern South America, northeastern North America, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific Ocean.
According to Anupam Kashyapi, head of the weather forecasting division of IMD Pune, the umbral phase of the eclipse will start at 01:05 AM IST on Sunday and end at 02:24 AM IST, lasting approximately 1 hour and 19 minutes.
During a lunar eclipse, the earth aligns between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow on the lunar surface. This results in either a total lunar eclipse when the moon is entirely within the earth's shadow, or a partial lunar eclipse when only a portion of the moon is in the earth's shadow.
Kashyapi explained that the umbral phase is the most significant part of the eclipse.
«It occurs when the moon passes into the earth's umbra, which is the darkest and central part of the earth's shadow. During this phase, the moon is directly aligned with the earth and is fully or partially immersed in the earth's umbra,» he said.
The moon can take on a reddish or coppery hue during this phase, often referred to as a 'blood moon', due to the earth's atmosphere scattering and
