Every place that can see the moon can see a lunar eclipse. However, the longest it takes to pass through the dark central area is a couple of hours, and if you count the faint outer shadow (penumbra), 4 hours or so. The earth will not rotate enough in 4 hours to allow the entire earth to see the eclipse. A lunar eclipse lasts shorter than a solar eclipse. The shadow cast by the very large earth is a giant swath of space behind the earth, just like your shadow on the ground or on a wall is larger than you. Any satellite passing into the large shadow of the earth will remain darkened (eclipsed) as it passes through the shadow. During a lunar eclipse, the total amount of reflected solar radiation (all light, including UV) is slightly less than the total light during a normal full moon.
So in actuality, it’s actually safer to look at the reflected light during a lunar eclipse, than it is to look at the full moon prior to a lunar eclipse. Unlike a solar eclipse, where you are viewing the direct surface of the sun, during a lunar eclipse, all you are viewing is the reflected solar radiation. The lunar eclipse which will be going to occur in November 2021 observed to be the longest lunar eclipse of the last 580 years. Astronomers have said that the eclipse will be visible in several European and Asian countries, it can be watched in North America, South America, eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific region, and parts of Northeast India. It is marvelous how half of the world can see this all at the same time, UK. USA, France, Russia Asia, India, and also visible in Australia, South Africa, South America (but of course it is seen inverted from the southern hemisphere).
The prominent US space agency NASA has said on November 2 that the partial lunar eclipse is going to take place and this natural phenomenon will occur between overnight of 18th and 19th November 2021. The eclipse will be visible for an hour or two when the moon casts its shadow on the earth. “Weather permitting, the eclipse will be visible from any location where the Moon appears above the horizon during the eclipse. Depending on your time zone, it’ll occur earlier or later in the evening for you,” it said. In India, the rare phenomenon will be visible from a few areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, Director of Research and Academic at MP Birla Planetarium Debiprosad Duari told PTI. Furthermore, Mr. Duari also said that the eclipse will occur at 12.48p, and it will end at 4.17 pm.
It has been revealed by the astronomers that the eclipse will have a duration of three hours and twenty-eight minutes. Debiprosad Duari also said that this eclipse has happened after 580 years and it will be one of the longest lunar eclipses of the last few centuries. However, the theoretical maximum for a total lunar eclipse is 1 hour 47 minutes. On July 16, 2000, there was a total eclipse of 1 hour 46.4 minutes. Over the millennia of lunar eclipses, there may well have been a longer one – though it can’t have been a lot longer. The next lunar eclipse occurs 6 lunations following the November event on 16 May 2022. Again the eclipse will be observable from the Americans, with some of Western Europe and much of Africa also sharing the view. The difference between this time is that the eclipse is total, with all the lunar faces passing through the umbral shadow of Earth.
It isn’t the longest lunar eclipse in the 21st Century. It is only the longest “partial” eclipse of the century due to it being an “almost” total eclipse (97.4%). It will have an umbral duration of 3 hours 28 minutes and 23 seconds but with no period of totality. The longest period of totality for a lunar eclipse this century was on July 27th, 2018 with a totality lasting 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 57 seconds, although the entire umbral phase of the eclipse was a whopping 3 hours 54 minutes 32 seconds long. Just after the moonrise, the lunar eclipse will be visible in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh as well as Assam. These two states will witness the last fleeting moments of the Lunar eclipse. This natural phenomenon is believed to happen near the easter horizon and it has been concluded by Astrophysicist Mr. Duari.
The same lunar eclipse happened on February 18, 1440, and it was of the same length. Mr. Duari has said that the next similar lunar eclipse will occur on February 8, 2669. The maximum visibility of the lunar eclipse can be viewed at 2.34 pm and the visibility of the eclipse will be around 97%, it will be the time when the maximum surface of the moon’s shadow strike on earth. It has also been observed that the moon will be slightly red in color (blood-red). This phenomenon happens when the red beam of the sun is reflected by the surface of the moon and the moon appears blood-reddish in color. These kinds of Lunar eclipses are termed Penumbral eclipses, such kinds of eclipses occur when the sun, earth as well as the moon are aligned imperfectly. In India, the starting time of the eclipse is 11.32 am and it will end at 5.33 pm.
The lunar eclipse of November 2021 can be viewed in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha, although the penumbral eclipse will be partially visible in these states. Furthermore, astrophysicists also said that the penumbral eclipse cannot be viewed most of the time and it is not as mesmerizing and dramatic as a partial eclipse. It has also been observed that most of the penumbral lunar eclipses didn’t get noticed. Blood moon lunar eclipse phenomena occurred in January 2018. The lunar eclipse that happened on that night was legendary. Not only it was the longest since 2000 it was also the longest for this century(2001–2100). And also, mars was the opposite and it was visible last night. Mars was the closest and brightest since 2003. It won’t be this bright again until 2035. It is all to do with scattering, and that refraction plays very little if any role.
Short wavelengths are scattered the most, which is why the sky appears blue and the sun yellow. The longest wavelengths, the red light, is scattered the least and so that is the light that hits the moonlight that has been scattered slightly such that it lights up the moon. The last penumbral lunar eclipse had occurred on July 27, 2018. Scientists and astrophysicists have said that the next lunar eclipse will occur on May 16, 2022. Although, it will not be visible in India. The next visible Lunar eclipse will occur on November 8, 2022, and it can be viewed in India. No eye protection precautions need to be taken when viewing a lunar eclipse, since you are viewing the reflected sunlight from the lunar surface, which only amounts to a little less than 12% of the light given off by the sun. Such events are routinely predicted using well-known equations refined over many decades.
In my view, it is not a miracle but merely depends on the way orbits of Earth and Moon vis-a-vis Sun. Proof that earth is not flat and the moon is 238,000 miles away. No one could say what the longest lunar eclipse ever occurred. They’ve been going on since long before they could be accurately timed. The lunar eclipse brings several astronomical events and scientists are researching it. There is an ongoing experiment that actually does test, among other things, that the gravitational influences of the Sun and other bodies are not altered by conjunctions. It is called Lunar Laser Ranging, and it is one of the longest continuously running experiments in physics, ever since the Apollo crews left some retroreflectors on the Moon. LLR allows us to measure the distance to the Moon with a centimetre or even sub-centimetre precision, so any shielding of solar gravity during an eclipse would stick out like a sore thumb in the data. Needless to say, no such shielding effects have ever been seen.
