Shillong, September 17: Sky gazers are in for a double treat tonight with two celestial events occurring in a rare coincidence — a super harvest Moon and partial lunar eclipse — on Tuesday night.
The Super Harvest Moon on Tuesday night will experience a partial lunar eclipse making it appear slightly larger in the night sky.
The visual delight will be visible in western Asia, North and South America, Europe, Africa, and parts of Antarctica. It will not be visible from India as during the time of the lunar eclipse, the Moon would be below the horizon in the country. It will appear at 8:04 am in New Delhi.
The term “Supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979 as either a new or full Moon that occurs when the Moon is within 90 per cent of its closest to Earth.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac calls the full moon of September as the Harvest moon, referring to when corn harvests traditionally started.
The eclipse occurs when the Moon is slightly closer to Earth, which happens because the Moon’s orbit is slightly elliptical, or oval-shaped.
As per NASA, the Moon will appear full for about three days, from Monday evening through Thursday morning.
The Moon will start entering the Earth’s partial shadow at 8:41 pm EDT on Tuesday (6:11 am IST, Wednesday).
NASA noted that “the slight dimming of the Moon will be difficult to notice until the top edge of the Moon starts entering the full shadow”.
The peak of the eclipse will be at 10:44 pm (8:14 am IST).
As it is a partial eclipse, “only the top 8 per cent of the Moon will be in full shadow”.
The Moon will finish exiting the full shadow at 11:16 pm and the partial shadow on Wednesday at 12:47 am.
“This will be the second of four consecutive Supermoons, appearing larger than last month’s Supermoon and effectively tied with the full Moon in October for the closest full Moon of the year,” NASA said. (IANS)
