KOLKATA: The longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years will occur on November 19 and will be visible in North America, South America, Eastern Asia, Australia and the Pacific Region.
"Sky lovers and enthusiasts in India will miss this spectacular celestial view since, for most of the country, the Partial Lunar Eclipse will end before the moon rises at their geographical location. Only a small part in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam will experience the last fleeting moments of the eclipse just after the moonrise on November 19, very close to the eastern horizon," Dr Debiprosad Duari, director, Research and Academic, MP Birla Planetarium, Kolkata said.
According to Dr Duari, about half of India will have to be satisfied with only the last part of the Penumbral eclipse, which is not as spectacular and dramatic as the partial eclipse and sometimes goes unnoticed. At Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, parts of the Eastern seaboard and a few other places, only the end part of the Penumbral eclipse can be witnessed since these places will experience moonrise only after the partial eclipse has ended.
The partial eclipse will start at around 12:48 hrs. IST (7:18 GMT) and will end at 16:17 IST (10:47 GMT). The duration of the eclipse will be for 3 hours 28 minutes and 24 seconds, making it the longest eclipse of the 21st century and the longest in almost the last 600 years.
The Penumbral eclipse preceding and succeeding the umbral partial eclipse will begin around 11:32 IST (6:02 GMT) and end at 17:33 IST (12:03 GMT). At the maximum partial eclipse, around 14:34 hours (9:04 GMT) 97 per cent of the Moon will be covered by the Earth's shadow and the Moon may appear to be blood red in colour.
"From India, just after moonrise, the ending of the partial phase of the eclipse will be visible for a very short span of time from extreme north-eastern parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam," according to Press Information Bureau (PIB) release.
The next lunar eclipse will be a total eclipse on May 16, 2022, but it will not be visible from India. India will experience a lunar eclipse, a full one, only on November 8, 2022.
A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the moon moves through the outer part of the earth's shadow, blocking a part of the sunlight from reaching the moon and causing it to appear larger than normal.
The last time such a lengthy partial eclipse occurred was on February 18, 1440, and the next time a similar lengthy partial eclipse will occur on February 8, 2669.