Lunar eclipse to be visible in Odisha for just five minutes

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Apr 4, 2015 at 2:13 PM Updated On : Apr 4, 2015 at 2:47 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 4:

The lunar eclipse, which will start 3.47 pm and will end at 7.16 pm today, will be partially visible in Odisha for just five minutes.

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“The first contact with the ‘umbra’ or the beginning of the eclipse is at 3.47 pm. The middle phase of the lunar eclipse will be at 5.32 pm and partial eclipse phase will last up to 7.16 pm. Worship rituals will be suspended from 5.41 am after which there will be total restriction on eating cooked food. However, children, patients and old people can take fruits and cooked food,” astrologer Bhabani Shankar Mohapatra said.

There will be beneficial effect of lunar eclipse on certain zodiac signs. They are—Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Pisces. Persons belonging to these zodiac signs would have positive impact on their lives if they witness lunar eclipse, Mohapatra added. After the end of the eclipse at 7.16 pm, everybody can have cooked food, he added.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth comes in between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the moon.

Elaborate arrangements have been made at the Pathani Samanta planetarium here for the sky gazers. They will be able to see the eclipse with telescope without paying any fee, Subhendu Patnaik, deputy director, Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar said.

This is the shortest lunar eclipse of the century and total eclipse will be visible in Odisha for only 5 minutes just after moonrise. However, total lunar eclipse will be visible in Japan and West Asia, Patnaik added.

In India, the initial umbral phase of the eclipse will not be seen. At the time of moonrise, the complete phases of the eclipse will be visible from the extreme north-eastern region of India and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The rest of the country will only see the partial eclipse.

A few places from where the totality phase will be seen at the time of moonrise are Aijawl, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Tezpur and Port Blair.