Stargazers are in for a rare treat on Wednesday, 31st January 2018 to witness Blue Moon, Super Moon and Total Lunar Eclipse at the same time!
Mumbai: 30th January, 2018
So what is a Super Blue Blood Moon?
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are aligned such so that for a period of time, the full Moon passes through the shadow of Earth in space (called Earth’s Umbra).
The Moon either appears dark, dried copper or even dried blood. During a total lunar eclipse, even if the Moon is completely shadowed by the Earth, due the atmosphere around the Earth, light gets scattered, red being the least scattered falls on the surface of the moon which allows it to appear blackish-red. For this reason, a totally eclipsed Moon is called a “Blood Moon”.
But then why is it called a Super Blue Blood Moon?
A Blue moon is when the full Moon appears twice in a month, a first full Moon appeared on 2nd January while the second full Moon will appear on 31st January.
The event will be more spectacular since it will be near its perigee(when it will be closing towards Earth), hence the Moon will appear larger than an average full Moon and is termed as a Super Moon.
Then, at what time can we see the eclipse in India?
In India, the eclipse will start around 17:18 IST. It will be total at 18:21 hours and will remain totally eclipsed till 19:37.
Then after, the total eclipse will end and the Moon will slowly come out of the shadow of the Earth, the partial eclipse will end around 20:41 hrs.
The totality of the eclipse will last for about 1 hour and 16 minutes.
You can witness this phenomenon with naked eyes.
When was the last Super Moon?
For the Asians Total lunar eclipse is taking place after 35 years, the last time we witnessed this was on December 30, 1982. But not so for the Americans who last witnessed it in 1866 after almost 152 years!
The next total lunar eclipse will be visible in India on July 27, 2018 but it will not be a Blue Moon or a Super Moon.
