Lunar Eclipse 2020: The wolf moon rises above Menwith Hill RAF station near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England Friday Jan. 10, 2020. (Image: Danny Lawson/PA via AP)

Lunar Eclipse 2020 Today India: The first lunar eclipse of the year 2020 was a penumbral eclipse, which occured in the month of January. The second lunar eclipse of the year is also a penumbral eclipse that is scheduled to happen tonight. The eclipse will start at 11:15 pm today on June 5 and stretch out to June 6.

It will reach the maximum eclipse at 12:54 am (on June 6) when the faint shadow of the Earth completely engulfs the Moon. The eclipse will end at 2:34 am on June 6, 2020, when the Moon comes out of the shadow. A penumbral eclipse is a bit hard to distinguish from a normal Full Moon.

It happens when the Sun, Earth, and the Moon are imperfectly aligned and the Earth casts a faint shadow over the Moon. The outer part of Earth’s shadow, also known as the penumbra, blocks some of the Sun’s light from directly reaching the Moon. A penumbral eclipse is hard to distinguish from the normal Full Moon as the penumbra is much fainter than the dark core of the Earth’s shadow.

How penumbral lunar eclipse happens. (Image: timeanddate.com)

The upcoming penumbral lunar eclipse will happen between June 5 and June 6, 2020. The Moon will enter the faint part of Earth’s shadow starting at 11:15 pm today as per the Indian Standard Timing (IST). The maximum eclipse will occur at 12:54 am on June 6 when the faint shadow completely engulfs the Moon. The penumbral eclipse will end at 2:34 am on June 6, 2020.

Apart from this lunar eclipse in June, this year has two more lunar eclipses scheduled ahead. The third lunar eclipse of 2020 will happen in July and the fourth and last lunar eclipse will occur in November 2020. These two eclipses will also be penumbral ones.