Bhubaneswar: The last total lunar eclipse, coinciding with Kartika Purnima, will turn the moon blood-red while passing into the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow on Tuesday.
The eclipse will be visible from all places in India but for the beginning of partial and total phases of the eclipse since the phenomenon will be in progress before the moonrise, the Ministry of Earth Sciences informed on Monday.
There are several phases of a total lunar eclipse. The first phase, the penumbral eclipse, is when the Moon will enter the Earth’s penumbra, and will then begin to dim. The Moon will turn coppery-red as the total phase of the eclipse will begin.
The eclipse will begin at 2.39 pm. The total eclipse will start at 3.46 pm. The ending time of totality is 5.12 pm while the partial eclipse phase will last till 6.19 pm. The ending of both total and partial phases can be seen from the eastern parts of the country while the rest of India will witness only the ending part of the partial eclipse.
For Kolkata and Guwahati, the total phase of the eclipse will be in progress at Moonrise. The duration of the total eclipse from Moonrise in Kolkata is 20 minutes and that of the partial eclipse is 1 hour 27 minutes.
In Kolkata, the moon will start rising from the eastern horizon at around 4.52 pm and will be completely visible by 4.54 pm. Meanwhile, some cities like Kohima, Agartala, and Guwahati in the eastern part of the country will also be able to witness the total eclipse because of their position.
Guwahati will witness the total eclipse for 38 minutes while the duration from Moonrise till the end of the partial eclipse is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
“The phenomenon will occur at 5.05 pm after sunset in Bhubaneswar and city denizens will be able to witness the total eclipse. Following this, the penumbral eclipse will begin to dim at 5.10 and end at 7.25 pm,” Deputy Director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium Subhendu Pattnaik told Odisha Bytes.
Pattnaik also said that the total lunar eclipse will be visible across Odisha with a maximum of 2 to 3 minutes of time gap.
For Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru, the duration of Moonrise time up to the end of the partial eclipse will be 50 minutes, 18 minutes, 40 minutes and 29 minutes respectively, the release said.
A lunar eclipse occurs during a full moon night, when the alignment of the sun, the earth, and the moon is almost in a straight line. During this alignment, the moon passes through the shadow region of the earth for some time.
The total lunar eclipse that will occur on November 8 is the last eclipse of the year, and the second this season. The next lunar eclipse, a partial one, will be visible from India on October 28, 2023.
