First Lunar Eclipse Of 2023 On May 5: All You Need To Know About The Penumbral Eclipse
Lunar Eclipse: A penumbral lunar eclipse is one in which the Moon travels through Earth's penumbra, or the faint outer part of the planet's shadow. The lunar eclipse of May 5 will be visible in India.
Lunar Eclipse 2023: The first lunar eclipse of 2023 falls on Friday, May 5, 2023. It will be a penumbral eclipse, and its magnitude will be minus 0.046. In astronomy, the more negative a magnitude is, the brighter the object will be. The magnitude of a lunar eclipse also indicates the fraction of the Moon's diameter covered by the Earth's inner shadow.
The lunar eclipse of May 5 will be a full Moon eclipse, and will be visible in India. According to timeandate.com, this will be the deepest penumbral eclipse until September 2042.
What is a penumbral lunar eclipse?
A penumbral lunar eclipse is one in which the Moon travels through Earth's penumbra, or the faint outer part of the planet's shadow. The Moon is usually dim during a penumbral lunar eclipse. Also, the Moon just misses the Earth's umbra, which is the darker, inner part of the planet's shadow. This type of eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth and the Moon are imperfectly aligned, and some of the Sun's light is blocked by the Earth from directly reaching the Moon's surface.
Since the Moon is not located exactly opposite to the Sun, the former comes inside the Earth's penumbra. Had the Moon been located exactly opposite to the Sun, a total umbral eclipse, in which the Moon is immersed in the darkest part of Earth's inner shadow, would have occurred.
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Where will the lunar eclipse be visible?
The penumbral lunar eclipse of May 5 will be visible in some parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, Europe, and the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.
Timings of the lunar eclipse in India
According to timeanddate.com, the penumbral eclipse will begin at around 8:44 pm IST on May 5. The eclipse will reach its peak, or the maximum phase at around 10:52 pm IST. The penumbral eclipse will end at around 1:01 am on May 6.
The maximum phase of a lunar eclipse is the point when nearly the entire Moon will be inside the Earth's umbra. Therefore, during the maximum phase, the Moon will not appear like a round cookie from which a bite has been taken out. Instead, the Moon will have a dark shade on it, according to Earth Sky.
The overall duration of the lunar eclipse will be four hours and 18 minutes.
Lunar eclipse of May 5 is the second eclipse this eclipse season
The penumbral lunar eclipse of May 5 is the second eclipse of the current eclipse season, an approximately 35-day period during which at least two eclipses occur. The first eclipse of the eclipse season, which occurred on April 20, 2023, was a total solar eclipse, and a rare event.
The next solar eclipse will be annular, and will occur on October 14, 2023. On October 28 and 29, a partial lunar eclipse will occur.
When and how to watch the penumbral lunar eclipse
Since the lunar eclipse will be visible in India, people in the country can watch it with their naked eyes by going to an open field which is devoid of lights, and above which the sky is clear.
People can also watch the lunar eclipse online, on a YouTube channel called Rocketry Dreamer Live.
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