A lunar eclipse is the phenomenon in nature that happens when the shadow of the earth blocks the light of the sun that gets reflected off the moon on other days. A lunar eclipse can happen in either of three types which may be total, partial or penumbral and the total lunar eclipse is the most dramatic of the three. Here the entire shadow of the earth covers up the moon. The last lunar eclipse that was seen was on 31 January 2018. An eclipse is such an awe inspiring event that often gets turned into fear due to lack of understanding of people as to what it actually is. The lay man finds himself blaming God for the blood red colour moon that shows up during a total lunar eclipse because they keep thinking about the reasons of a lunar eclipse.
The next lunar eclipses would be on 27 July, 2018, 19 January, 2018 and then on 16 July ,2018, so interested people may mark their calendars to see them live in person! NASA has predicted lunar eclipses happening till 2100 and a database of previously happened lunar eclipses is also maintained by them. They state that the Earth will experience 228 lunar eclipses in this century alone.
A total lunar eclipse takes place during a full moon day when the Earth, moon and the sun line up in a straight line while even a slight change in alignment would make it a partial or no lunar eclipse. The orbit of the moon is around the earth but on a different plane than earth’s orbit around sun which doesn’t let every full moon day become an eclipse. Whenever it does happen, it lasts for two to three hours typically and takes a long time to develop. It happens when the Earth casts two shadows and the part with full and dark shadow becomes the umbra, making the partially outer shadowed portion as the penumbra. The moon has to pass through these areas on varying timelines and the most beautiful time is when the moon is in the umbral shadow. It has been said that the moon has been drifting away from earth by 4 centimetres every year since 4.5 billion years ago, when it was formed. This in turn means that though the earth’s shadow can cover the moon completely now, but that would not be the case, a billion years from today.
A lunar eclipse is a beautiful cosmic event which deserves to be observed. Watching the moon from a terrace at night is a great experience anyway but when a lunar eclipse happens, it just adds to the integrity of the scene. A telescope or binocular is not necessarily needed but the finer details can be looked at in much better fashion by using such equipment.
