A supercelestial event will take place on Wednesday as the first lunar eclipse of 2021 will take place. This event will be more special as it will coincide with a supermoon, a total lunar eclipse and a red blood moon all at once.
Significantly, a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse have not occurred together in nearly six years.
What is a total lunar eclipse?
During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth comes in between the Sun and the Moon blocking all the direct sunlight that could fall upon the Earth’s natural satellite. This blockage of the sunlight casts the Earth’s shadow on the surface of the Moon and thus occurs the total lunar eclipse.
The total lunar eclipse will not be visible in the national capital as the moon will be below the horizon there for some time, according to the Time and Date report.
The lunar eclipse will be visible for a short span of time from the north-eastern parts of India, West Bengal, Odisha and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has informed.
A partial lunar eclipse can be seen in Agartala, Kolkata, Cherrapunji, Cooch Behar, Imphal, Itanagar, Guwahati, Malda, Kohima, Lumding, Puri, Silchar and Digha.
The partial phase of the lunar eclipse will begin at 3.15pm and end at 6.23pm in India, while the total phase will begin at 4.39pm and end at 4.58pm. The total duration of the eclipse is 5 hours, 2 minutes. The total duration of the partial phases is 2 hours, 53 minutes. The duration of the full eclipse is 14 minutes.
The partial eclipse will be visible from Port Blair from 5.38pm for 45 minutes and a partial eclipse can be seen in West Bengal’s Malda and Odisha’s Puri at 6.21pm for 2 minutes.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that in India, just after the moonrise, the partial phase of the eclipse will end in the northeastern parts of India (except Sikkim), parts of West Bengal, some parts of Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
What is a blood moon?
During the eclipse, when the Moon is covered by the Earth’s shadow it goes dark. However, the Moon doesn’t go completely black. Instead, it takes a red colour. Therefore, a total lunar eclipse is often called red or blood moon.
What is a Supermoon?
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) defines that a Supermoon occurs when the Moon’s orbit is closest to the Earth at the same time the Moon is full.
