What is a lunar eclipse? Everything to know about the Sun-Earth-Moon alignment phenomenon

second penumbral lunar eclipse of 2020 will be taking place on Friday June 5, 2020. eclipse will reportedly start at 11:15 PM and end at 2:34 AM IST. total length of this lunar eclipse is going to be about three hours and eighteen minutes, as per astrologer reports. lunar eclipse will be visible to people living in most parts of Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, South America, Pacific, Indian Ocean and Antarctica. 

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As second penumbral lunar eclipse has excited sky-gazing enthusiasts around world, many also want to kw about precise nature of this cosmic phemen. Though it is t a complex alignment to understand, it does require some general explanation to understand what goes down during a lunar eclipse, especially when compared to much more directly understood solar eclipse. Re below to kw what a lunar eclipse is. 

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What is a lunar eclipse?

lunar eclipse can only occur when re is a full moon. A total lunar eclipse takes place when sun, Earth and moon are perfectly aligned. Anything less than a perfect alignment results in a partial lunar eclipse and can even le to having eclipse at all. As moon's orbit around Earth follows a slightly different plane as compared to Earth's orbit around sun, perfect alignment for an eclipse does t always happen. 

Im courtesy - Brian McMahon on Unsplash

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A lunar eclipse develops over time and usually takes a couple of hours before aligning completely. This is how an event of lunar eclipse works - planet Earth casts two shows on moon during lunar eclipse. umbra snd penumbra shows. While umbra show is full and dark, penumbra is outer and partial show.

Almost two to four solar eclipses take place during a year but frequency of lunar eclipses is far less. In any one calendar year, maximum number of solar eclipses that have been reported is generally more than four whereas lunar eclipses have only occurred a maximum of thrice in comparison. While solar eclipses are only properly visible along a 50-mile wide path, lunar eclipses can be witnessed more widely, spanning across half Earth at a time. re are different s of lunar eclipses also, like partial lunar eclipse and  penumbral lunar eclipse. 

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