This is the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century spanned over 103 minutes or an hour and 43 minutes in total. In India, the penumbral phase(the outer part) of the July 27 Blood Moon(total lunar eclipse) began at 10:44 pm IST and the umbral phase(the darker, central part) of the eclipse at 11:54 pm.

The next eclipse which will be this long will take place on June 26, 2029 and  be  visible to  America,  Europe,  Middle-East  and  Africa,  according  to   NASA’s charts. India will not be able to witness that eclipse. The wait will be long for the next total lunar eclipse in India, making this eclipse a more significant one.

     ECLIPSE TIME

27.7.18, 11:00 P.M. to 28.7.18. 4 A.M.

The total time taken from beginning of the eclipse to its end(till it regains its original shape. 

     TOTALITY TIME

28.7.18 1:00 A.M. to 2.30 A.M.

The time at which the moon is closest to the center of the shadow

The Blood Moon 2018 is said to be the biggest celestial events of the year and this is the second total lunar eclipse of the year after the Super Blue Blood Moon on January 31, 2018.

This conjuncture is nothing but, the Moon, Earth and the Sun aligned against each other in such a way that the Earth is positioned at the center of the Moon and the Sun. Meanwhile, the Moon travels through the darkest regions of the Earth’s shadow, known as the Umbra, which makes it don a reddish gleam for the whole lunar eclipse.

For all those Selenophiles out there, we would like to share the series of eclipse  that took place during this lunar eclipse in a timeline chart. This time chart is as per the view from KCT!

Beginning of the Eclipse

Penumbral Eclipse begins(11:05 pm):One of the biggest reasons why the lunar eclipse of 27 July 2018 will be the longest ever lunar eclipse of the 21st century is due to the fact that this lunar eclipse coincides with the moon being the closest to its apogee, which is a point in Moon’s orbit where the white orb is positioned farthest from our planet.The Moon which is around 384,400 kilometers away from our planet emerged from the Earth’s umbra at around 3:49 am, however, since the whole phenomenon has started from 10:44 am, the total period of the Blood Moon on July 27 is considered to be over five hour.

Appearance of Penumbral shadow (11:25 pm): The Lunar eclipse 2018 had begun and for the unknown, the Earth is then positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon in such a way that the Moon has come under Earth’s shadow.

Partial Eclipse begins(11:35 pm): The moon has already entered its penumbral phase and then at 11:54 pm the usually while orb will start getting the reddish gleam since it is in the umbral phase under the Earth’s Umbra.

Micromoon eclipse(12:00 am): By this time the Moon has started entering into the umbral phase where it slowly traveled during the lunar eclipse (also called Micromoon eclipse) right inside the darkest regions of the Earth’s shadow, which is also called as the Umbra.When the Moon entered partial eclipse, it is clearly visible from the naked eye.

Moon in Earth’s Umbra(12:25 am): During the total lunar eclipse, the Moon has gone through seven stages and by this time, 20 percent of the Moon has submerged into the Earth’s Umbra, which is the darkest region of our planet’s shadow. Now the vista of the moon is very light reddish gleam before going into total lunar eclipse.

Total Eclipse begins(1:00 am): The total lunar eclipse had begun. The moon is now in orange/red color and for those who are not able to see the Blood Moon from the naked eyes due to bad weather conditions could see the live vista by KCT. Unlike earlier expectations, the Blood Moon is then clearly visible from the naked eye in reddish gleam.

Maximum Eclipse(1:30 am): The Blood Moon is then visible in India, and true to the name, it appears Red/Orange in color. The totality would last for one hour and 43 minutes, and this is the longest a total lunar eclipse has lasted in the 21st century.

Total Lunar eclipse

Total Eclipse ends(2:40 AM): As the Moon passes through and completes the Umbra stage of the lunar eclipse, the color has now slowly started to change from Red to Orange. At 2:45 AM IST, the Full Eclipse has ended and has now begun the Partial eclipse stage. We expect that the partial eclipse stage will end at 3:49 am IST while the eclipse (penumbral eclipse stage) will be over at 4:59 IST.

Partial Eclipse ends(03:21 AM): For those unaware, this total lunar eclipse was also referred to as Blood Moon. This is when the moon in total eclipse appears reddish in color as it is illuminated by sunlight filtered and refracted by the earth’s atmosphere. The view of the Blood Moon in the sky is striking as the usually whitish moon becomes red or ruddy-brown.

Penumbral Eclipse ends(03:51 AM): In that morning of Saturday, the moon appeared to have a reddish gleam after 1:00 am IST and it reached the edge of the umbra (which is the darkest region of Earth’s shadow) at around 2:43 am IST. The Moon emerged from Earth’s shadow at around 3:49 am IST while the penumbral eclipse stage completed at 4:58 am IST.

Eclipse view from KCT, PC: Studio KCT

SEDS KCT along with Studio KCT spent the night watching the sky to capture this astonishing astronomical event.

 

Written By : Selvi S