Moon Shadowed: India will witness 2019's last lunar eclipse lasting almost six hours on Wednesday

We maybe not touching the moon yet, but we can see it being overshadowed by the Earth on Wednesday. While Chandrayaan 2 has been postponed temporarily, moon nuts in India will be able to observe the partial (penumbral) lunar eclipse starting from 12.13 am on July 17.

According to astronomers, the partial lunar eclipse which will last 2 hours, 54 minutes will be visible in most parts of Asia and Europe, Africa, Australia, and South America.

India's window to view the lunar phenomenon

According to astronomers, the entire lunar eclipse will last for 5 hours and 34 minutes. The eclipse which will begin at 12:13 AM, will go into the partial lunar eclipse phase at 1:31 AM and reach its maximum at 3 AM. Then, the lunar eclipse will again enter the penumbral phase which will last till 4:29 AM. The partial lunar eclipse will end at 5:47 AM.

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What is a partial/penumbral lunar eclipse?

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth enters its orbital position between the Sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the moon. The shadow cast by the planet on its natural satellite consists of two parts - the umbra and the penumbra. 

The partial lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is covered only by the penumbra part of the Earth's shadow. The moon does not enter the umbra section of the Earth's shadow. Meanwhile, a total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is completely covered by the Earth's shadow i.e. umbra. The Sun, Earth and moon are aligned in a straight line. This will be this year's last lunar eclipse according to astronomers. The next lunar eclipse occurs on 10 Jan 2020, followed by three more in the same year.  

Meanwhile, on Sunday, ISRO's ambitious Chandrayaan 2 which would have made India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface, was postponed temporarily by ISRO after it hit a technical snag one hour prior to lift-off on Monday morning.

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