HYDERABAD : The First Eclipse among Five Eclipses (3 Solar & 2 Lunar) of the year 2018 will occur on Wednesday.
Planetary Society, India Director N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said on Tuesday that this eclipse is a Total Lunar Eclipse and Visible from India. Across the world, this Eclipse will be visible in the region covering North America except Eastern part, Oceania, Russia, Asia, Middle East, northern Scandanavia and Eastern Europe.
This Eclipse is visible from entire India. Wherein after Year 2011 i.e.after 7 Years it is first time that the entire country will witness “TOTALITY PHASE” (when Moon Disk completely hidden in Earth Shadow). Unlike previous year only few places in India saw a Totality phase.
Mr Raghunandan said the next visible Eclipse which will occur is on July 27, 2018 which is a Total Lunar Eclipse and visible from entire India in its all phases. Whereas the last time Lunar Eclipse visible in India occurred on August 7, 2017 which however was partial Lunar Eclipse.
On the Gist of Eclipses in the Year 2018, he said there will be a total Lunar Eclipse ( January 31 2018) , Partial Solar Eclipse (16 February 2018), Partial Solar Eclipse (13 July 2018), Total Lunar Eclipse (27th July 2018) , Partial Solar Eclipse (on 11 August, 2018).
He said eclipse in various phases begins at 4.19 p.m tomorrow and ends at 9.40 p.m. The noticeable Umbral phase begins at 5.18p.m. and ends at 8.42 p.m.
Whereas from 6.21 p.m. to 7.38 p.m. the totality phase (Moon completely hidden in Earth Shadow) occurs. In other words: Though astronomically speaking Eclipse begins at 4.19 p.m. with moon entering lighter Shadow of Earth. People can noticeably witness darkening (or leaving) of Moon’s disk by Earth Shadow between 5.18 p.m. to 8.41 p.m.
However in most of India Moon rises around 6 pm when Eclipse already begin. Whereas places in North Eastern States like Agartala, Aijawl, Cooch Bihar, Darjeeling, Dibrugarh, Gangtok, Guwahati, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Kolkatta, Mushidabad, Shilong, Silchar, Silguri and Port Blair appreciate all visible phases (i.e. Beginning of Umbral) of the eclipse as for them Moon rises before 5.18 p.m. For rest of country will miss beginning of umbral phase as Moon rises late.
Once in a “Blue Moon” : Further the full moon on January 31 is a Second Full Moon in January. Which doesn’t make Moon appear blue.
Super Moon Eclipse: the Moon visible on January 31 will be 14% Bigger and 30% Brighter. because though Full Moon occur every month. It doesn’t always happen on the day when moon close to earth.
Whereas on tomorrow Moon will reach closest point to Earth called “Perigee” during course of its journey around Earth. And So full moon occurring on January when moon still close to earth makes it “Supermoon”.
Kalam Observation Center : Considering various celestial events & Chandryaan II launch PSI invites schools to host “Kalam Observation Center” for observation & outreach activities.
People can visit www.ournewplanets.info for details, the Planetary Society Founder Secretary said.
On the Blue Moon Special, Mr Kumar said it is not a 152 Year Old Event! But Unique in 2 Centuries for India: it has been reported in social media that “Occurrence of Total Lunar Eclipse on Blue Moon day (Second Full in a Month) occurred in 1886.
As for as India is concerned in 1982 on December 30 there was a Lunar Eclipse. Also it was Second full moon of December 1982. i.e. Lunar Eclipse on Blue Moon in India occurred in 1982.
However though the Total Lunar Eclipse on December 30 1982 occurred on Blue Moon Day. It was visible partially across India. Whereas few places in North East had glimpse of Totality for few Minutes. Because on that day Eclipse begin even before Moon Rise in most of India.
Hence, the Planetary Society Director told UNI that the total Lunar Eclipse of Jan 31, 2018 gives people across India to see the Totality Phase right from beginning to End. Hence for people in Indian Subcontinent it’s still for first such event in last Two Centuries on Blue Moon Day.
TWO BLUE MOONS IN 2018 ?
First time in 20 Years First among Two Blue Moons to Occur on January 31, 2018. Can there be two blue moons in a single calendar year? Year 20 Years Specialty for India? Yes Blue Moon on 31st January 2018 is not the only one for this year. In 2018 we have another Blue Moon occurring in the Month of March 2018.
In the year 1999, he said there were two full moons in January (2nd & 31st ) and two full moons in April (1st & 30 th ) and no full moon in February. So both January and April had Blue Moons. So again after 20 Years in 2018 we will have Two Blue Moon in a Calendar Year i.e. January ( 2nd Jan & 31 Jan) 2018 And March (1 st March and 31 st March) 2018. So why do Blue Moon Occur ? Does it Occur every 2-3 Years ?
Moon’s Motion around Earth: The Moon takes 27.3 days to orbit Earth, but the lunarphase cycle (from new Moon to new Moon) is 29.5 days.
The Moon spends the extra 2.2 days “catching up” because Earth also travels about 45 million miles around the Sun during the time the Moon completes one orbit around Earth.
In a year twelve full moons occur approximately monthly, but in addition to those twelve full lunar cycles, each calendar year contains an excess of roughly eleven days. Which is due to difference (29.5 x 12 = 354 Days whereas our calendar consists of 365 Days) in Lunar/Solar Year.
Hence these extra days accumulate, and every two or three years (on average approx every 2.7154 years), there is an extra full moon. Such an extra Full moon is called a “blue moon”, Mr Kumar said.
When was last time – Blue Moon Event Occurred and when is Next One? The last time “Blue Moon” event occurred in 2015 i.e. on 31st of July in 2015 (2nd July 2015 & 31st July 2015).
How Moon will appear January 31 2018? Will it Appear Blue? No, Full Moon on 31 January 2018 will not appear Blue just because it’s Second Full Moon in Single Month or it is called so. It would be like any other Full Moon which people usually observe, he explained. (agencies)
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