Asia witnesses longest lunar eclipse in the century

Moon's bright white glow turned crimson brick red when it delved into the dark centre of the Earth's shadow during the century's longest and darkest lunar eclipse.

The awesome spectacle of the moon being eclipsed was visible all over the country, including the national capital.

The full moon appeared much dimmer than usual, but sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere gave the lunar surface a deep reddish hue.

This was the century's longest and darkest total lunar eclipse as the Moon immersed deeply inside the umbral (darker) shadow of the Earth, Nehru Planetarium director N Rathnasree said.

The total phase of the eclipse lasted 100 minutes. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000.

The next such eclipse will only take place in 2141. The penumbral lunar eclipse began at 22:54:34 IST and will end at 04:30:45 IST, she said.

The total lunar eclipse began at 00:52:30 IST and ended at 02:32:42 IST. While the partial eclipse began at 23:52:56 IST and ended at 03:32:15 IST.

As the earth came in between the sun and the moon, its shadow first began sweeping across the moon blocking out much of its bright light and as the shadow descended gently, the moon's face turned red.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth in course of its orbit around the Sun, comes between the Moon and Sun in such a way that Moon is hidden in the shadow cast by Earth.

Longest and darkest total lunar eclipse tonight

The longest and darkest total lunar eclipse of the century will occur on Wednesday midnight, giving sky enthusiasts all over the country an opportunity to witness the event.

An unusually long lunar eclipse with the moon immersed deeply inside the umbral (darker) shadow of the earth will occur, Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnasree said.

“The total phase of this lunar eclipse will last 100 minutes. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000,” she said.

The next such eclipse will only take place in 2141.

The total lunar eclipse will begin at 00:52:30 IST and end at 02:32:42. The partial eclipse will begin at 23:52:56 IST and end at 03:32:15.

The eclipse will be visible completely in Africa and Central Asia. It will be visible rising over South America, Western Africa and Europe, and seen setting over Eastern Asia, and Australia, C.B. Devgun from Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators said.

The relatively rare total lunar eclipse will have a magnitude of 1.70, said N. Sri Raghunandan Kumar of Planetary Society of India.

The next lunar eclipse, to be viewed in India, will be in December this year.

STAR OCCULTATION

Also, a star named 51 Ophiuchi will be occulted during the eclipse.

Sky enthusiasts can witness the whole sequence of the occultation in the zodiacal constellation of Ophiuchus.

At 11:29 p.m., the moon will occult (hide) behind the star 51 Ophiuchi. The star will reappear after 90 minutes at 01:01 a.m. of June 16.

Eyjafjallajokull ashes to affect lunar eclipse

June 14: On Wednesday, at around midnight, the city and places across the country will witness one of the darkest lunar eclipses in nearly 100 years. The darkness is due to the ashes thrown into the Earth’s atmosphere by the recent eruption of the volcano Grimsvotn in Iceland, along with dust and ashes from last year’s volcanic eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull, also in Iceland, according to astronomy experts.

H.R. Madhusudan, scientific officer, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium explains, “The dust and ash particles from the volcano in the earth’s atmosphere will absorb the light from the sun and prevent it from reaching the moon. The intensity of the darkness will depend on the size of the particles. Since it is a total lunar eclipse this time, the Sun, Earth and Moon will be in one line, with the Earth in the centre.” A total lunar eclipse that occurred on December 9, 1992 was also exceptionally dark because on June 15 that year, Mt. Pinatubo check date — google search shows eruption in 1991 in the Philippines erupted for about nine hours during which it discharged something like 15 million tons of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, said Aravind Paranjpye of the of the Inter-University Centre of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune. He said the darkness of the eclipse can help scientists understand and quantify the amount of dust thrown into the atmosphere by the volcanoes.