Watch the total eclipse of the Moon this Wednesday

There will be total eclipse of the moon on October 8, 2014. This is the second and the last lunar eclipse of year 2014

There will be total eclipse of the moon on October 8, 2014. This is the second and the last lunar eclipse of year 2014. Only the last stage of the eclipse is visible from India as during most of the eclipse the Moon will be below the horizon. The eclipse will begin at 1.43 pm (IST) when the Moon enters the penumbral shadow of the Earth. The totality of the eclipse begins at 3.54 pm and the eclipse ends at 7.05 pm

A typical lunar eclipse. Representative Pic

The table below gives the exact time of the various stages of the eclipse (all IST).
>> Moon enters penumbra: 13:43:48
>> Moon enters umbra: 14:44:12
>> Start of totality: 15:54:22
>> Maximum eclipse: 16:24:21
>> End of totality: 16:54:17
>> Moon leaves umbra: 18:04:26
>> Moon leaves penumbra: 19:04:57

Lunar eclipse diagram. Diagram courtesy/Arvind Paranjpye

Do check the moonrise time for Mumbai. As a refresher, a lunar eclipse takes place on a Full Moon night when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are in a straight line. Normally, during the Full Moon phase that takes place once every month, the Moon passes slightly below or above the shadow of the Earth.

But on occasions the Moon passes through the shadow zone of the Earth and when this happens we see the Eclipse of the Moon. The shadow of the Earth has two parts central dark part called umbra and fainter outer part called penumbra (see above diagram).

Information courtesy: Arvind Paranjpye, Director Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Centre, Mumbai

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