Penumbral lunar eclipse tonight; Here’re India timings and duration

Bhubaneswar: Barely two weeks after skygazers witnessed solar eclipse, another celestial event is going to happen on full moon day tonight, which will be New Year’s first lunar eclipse.

The penumbral lunar eclipse will be visible in entire Asia countries including India; other continents including Africa, Europe, Australia as well as some parts of USA.

The lunar eclipse will occur at 10.30 pm on January 10 and end at 2.42 am on January 11. It will last over four hours.

However, it will not affect religious rituals in Hindu temples as it will be a penumbral lunar eclipse.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth’s shadow, or a part of it, falls on the full moon blocking the Sun’s light. The total lunar eclipse takes place when the Sun, Earth and Moon are perfectly lined up and the Moon is completely covered by the Earth’s shadow.

However, Imperfect alignments cause partial and penumbral eclipses. The penumbral eclipse happens when the moon passes through the Earth’s outer shadow, or penumbra.

The last lunar eclipse had occurred on July 16, 2019. It was a partial lunar eclipse.

After tonight, the next penumbral eclipse will take place on June 5, July 5 and November 30 this year.