New Delhi: Are you ready for a super lunar event? The world is set to experience the first lunar eclipse of 2021, a super Moon and a red blood Moon all at once on Monday, May 26. So what does this mean? And will the super blood moon be visible in India? Here’s all you need to know.
Will the Super Flower Blood Moon & Lunar Eclipse be visible in India?
The rare super flower blood moon will be seen in the easter sky on May 26, 2021 just after a total lunar eclipse.
To see a lunar eclipse, you need to be on the night side of the Earth while the Moon passes through the shadow. The best place to see the eclipse on May 26, 2021, will be the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Australia, the East Coast of Asia and the West Coast of the Americas. It will be visible on the eastern half of the US, but only the very earliest stages before the Moon sets.
People in India, South Asia, East Asia, Australia, and much of North America, South America, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Antarctica will be able to see the lunar eclipse on May 26.
For most people in India, the moon will be below the eastern horizon during the total lunar eclipse and so people will not be able to view the blood Moon. Skywatchers who live in eastern India will see only the very last part of the lunar eclipse, very close to the eastern horizon, just before moonrise.
What time will lunar eclipse 2021 take place in India?
The total lunar eclipse (Chandra Grahan) will start at 2:17 pm in India and end at 7:19 pm. The earth will cover the moon by 101.6 per cent during this event.
The partial eclipse of the moon will start around 3:15 pm and end at 6:22 pm in Kolkata.
“On the night of May 26, the sun, earth and moon will be aligned in a way that the Full Moon will also be eclipsed for some time as viewed from Kolkata. The moon on its journey around the earth will be passing through the earth’s shadow and will be totally eclipsed,” said astrophysicist and Director of MP Birla Planetarium, Debiprasad Duari.
What is a super moon?
A supermoon occurs when a full or new moon coincides with the Moon’s closest approach to the Earth. The Moon’s orbit around Earth is not perfectly circular. This means the Moon’s distance from Earth varies as it goes around the planet. The closest point in the orbit, called the perigee, is roughly 28,000 miles closer to Earth than the farthest point of the orbit. A full moon that happens near the perigee is called a supermoon.
It is a super Moon as the relatively close proximity of the Moon makes it seem a little bit bigger and brighter than usual, though the difference between a supermoon and a normal moon is usually hard to notice unless you’re looking at two pictures side by side.
How does a lunar eclipse work?
A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth’s shadow covers all or part of the Moon. This can only happen during a full moon, so first, it helps to understand what makes a full moon. Like the Earth, half of the Moon is illuminated by the sun at any one time. A full moon happens when the Moon and the Sun are on opposite sides of the Earth. This allows you see the entire lit-up side, which looks like a round disc in the night sky.
If the Moon had a totally flat orbit, every full moon would be a lunar eclipse. But the Moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees relative to Earth’s orbit. So, most of the time a full moon ends up a little above or below the shadow cast by the Earth.
But twice in each lunar orbit, the Moon is on the same horizontal plane as both the Earth and Sun. If this corresponds to a full moon, the Sun, the Earth and the Moon will form a straight line and the Moon will pass through the Earth’s shadow. This results in a total lunar eclipse. On May 26, 2021, it will be the first total lunar eclipse since January 2019.
Why does the moon look red?
When the Moon is completely covered by Earth’s shadow it will darken, but doesn’t go completely black. Instead, it takes on a red color, which is why total lunar eclipses are sometimes called red or blood moons.
Sunlight contains all colors of visible light. The particles of gas that make up Earth’s atmosphere are more likely to scatter blue wavelengths of light while redder wavelengths pass through. This is called Rayleigh scattering, and it’s why the sky is blue and sunrises and sunsets are often red.
In the case of a lunar eclipse, red light can pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and is refracted – or bent – toward the Moon, while blue light is filtered out. This leaves the moon with a pale reddish hue during an eclipse.
Hopefully you will be able to go see this super lunar eclipse. When you do, now you will know exactly what makes for such a special sight.