Get ready for a rare celestial treat on Wednesday as three lunar phenomena coincide. A blue moon (a second full moon in a calendar month), a super moon (when the moon is unusually close to Earth, making it bigger and brighter) and a blood moon (a moment during an eclipse when the moon appears red) will all coincide for the first time since 1866. Not only will the moon turn a deep-red color during the eclipse, but it will be slightly bigger and brighter than usual: a supermoon. But that’s not all: It’s the second full moon of January, making it a “blue moon” as well.
North-Eastern part of India will be the first to witness lunar eclipse, between 4:21 PM and 5:18 PM. Rest of the country can see this Super blue blood moon between 5:18 pm and 6:21 pm. People in western coast and a few parts of Rajasthan will be able to see it between 6:21 PM IST to 7:37 PM. Those residing in Siberia, Australia, New Zealand and northwestern US and Canada will be lucky to observe the entire event.
What is Blue moon? The second full moon in a month is said to be a blue moon. On this day, moon comes 90% closer to earth. It appears 30 % brighter and 14% bigger. As it comes under the earth's shadow during that time, it also wears a tinge of red colour. Scientists say that "the red light you see is sunlight that has skimmed and bent through Earth's atmosphere and continued on through space to the moon." The moon will be in the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow for more than an hour. Interestingly, this year January 1, 2018 also saw a Supermoon rise.
For those who miss out on this rare phenomenon today, you can watch it LIVE thanks to NASA, provided you are awake at 4:00 am on Thursday (1st Feb). You can watch it live HERE.
While there are quite a few apprehensions and controversies that surround eclipse, rationalist and humanist Babu Gogineni dismisses all such beliefs and statements. Check out the video here:
