Lunar Eclipse 2020: Chandra Grahan And Myths Around It
- by Leland Aguilar
- in Entertaiment
- — Jul 5, 2020
The Third Penumbral Lunar Eclipse will end on July 5 at 5:52 UTC /11:22 AM IST. The upcoming one will be a penumbral lunar eclipse, which is what all the lunar eclipses of this year are.
The eclipse will be visible across most of North and South America as well as parts of southwestern Europe and Africa.
This year, the night of the Strawberry Moon also saw a penumbral lunar eclipse take place. "A lunar eclipse can occur only when the moon is full".
In a normal lunar eclipse, the moon passes through the central part of the earth's shadow called umbra, forming considerable darkening of the lunar disc. As NASA said in a June skywatching update, "the slight reduction in the moon's brightness will be hard to notice with the human eye".
When is the best time to watch July's Full Moon?
This time, the third lunar eclipse is a penumbral lunar eclipse and it is witnessed on July 5th, 2020 (Sunday).
This weekend kicks off a stellar month of night sky watching, with a lovely full Moon lining up with Jupiter and Saturn. It will be the first lunar eclipse visible in this part of the world since 2019.
The full "buck" moon will start to enter the shadow at 11:07 p.m. "This full Moon was also known as the Thunder Moon because thunderstorms are so frequent during this month". People in certain regions will be able to witness penumbral lunar eclipse, also being referred to as a "buck moon" lunar eclipse. Instead of the light reaching the moon's surface, the earth's shadow falls on it.
Notably, penumbral lunar eclipses such as this one aren't as pronounced as the two other possible types: partial lunar eclipses and total lunar eclipses. The Chandra Grahan is expected to last for 2 hours 45 minutes, according to timeanddate.com.
Ever looked up at the night sky to see a full moon so close you could nearly touch it? However, the Sutak will not be applicable in this period as it will be a Penumbra Lunar Eclipse. This happens as the planets reach their opposition, or "the point in their orbits when they are closest to the Earth". To us Earth-lings, it appears up to 30 per cent brighter and 14 per cent bigger.
