Intrepid sky watchers should mark April 4 on their calendar because on this day, the earth will come between the moon and the sun, giving rise to a celestial phenomenon called a total lunar eclipse. According to Superintendent of Ujjain Jiwaji Observatory, Rajendraprakash Gupt, the entire event will be viewable in the North East of India from 3.45pm to 7.15pm (IST) and will last for approximately 3.5 hours, and reach its peak at 5.30pm (IST).
Dusk falls early in the North East of India, which should facilitate a magnificent spectacle of the total lunar eclipse, according to The Economic Times who has cited PTI for this report. During the eclipse, the earth will be between the moon and sun in a straight line. This will block out the sunlight that the moon usually receives and cast earth’s shadow on the moon. It should give the moon a dark red appearance due to scattered light from the earth’s atmosphere, hence the name ‘blood moon’ is attributed to this lunar event.
According to a post on EarthSky, the eclipse will progress from a partial eclipse to a total eclipse and culminate in a partial eclipse again. This total lunar eclipse is purported to be one of the shortest total lunar eclipses and will last for only about 5 minutes. It might be also be a ‘bloodless’ moon because it will be passing through the edge of the earth’s shadow and so it is not likely to become red.
The total lunar eclipse, unlike a solar eclipse, is completely safe and can be viewed without any protective eyewear. If you’re interested in seeing the total lunar eclipse in particular, you have a very small window of just 5 minutes starting from around 5.30pm (IST) onwards to get a glimpse of it.