Clouds dampen Bengalureans’ date with Red Moon

Bengaluru: Bengalureans waited anxiously for the “Red Moon” or the total lunar eclipse late Sunday night, but their hopes were dampened as the skies remained covered with clouds.

To mark the occasion, the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium hosted a public lunar eclipse viewing event and lecture on the lunar eclipse to share joy and knowledge.

“I expected it to be more dramatic because that’s how it was shown in movies, but the experience was still surreal and the moon looked beautiful despite being covered by the clouds,” Samuel, a student who attended the viewing, told DH.

The short lecture was fun and factual.

Dr BR Guruprasad, Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, explains how a lunar eclipse works

Planetarium Director Dr B R Guruprasad explained that the reason eclipses, either lunar or solar, are possible is because the moon is 400 times smaller than the sun and 400 times closer to the earth than the sun. This makes it the perfect size to either block the whole radius of the sun and cast a shadow onto the earth (solar clipse) or hide perfectly behind the shadow of the earth (lunar eclipse).

The Penumbral eclipse started at 8.58 pm on Sunday and continued till 9.57 pm, where the partial eclipse started, meaning the moon was partially moving into the Umbra. Total eclipse, i.e., the ‘Red Moon’, was visible from 11 pm to 12.22 am early Monday, and back to a partial eclipse at 1.26 am and ended at 2.25 am. The eclipse lasted a total of five hours and 27 minutes, with a one-hour 22-minute period where the moon remained red. “The colour or the rich redness on the moon is dependent on how thick, or polluted the atmosphere is” Guruprasad told DH. “Not every eclipse is the same as the next eclipse varies.”