Partial lunar eclipse on August 7-8 to be visible from all places in India

Indians will be able to witness the partial lunar eclipse which will occur on August 7 night. The eclipse will begin from 10:52 pm and will continue up to 12:49 am on August 8.

"The entire partial eclipse will be visible from central and east Africa, central Russia, China, India, the Far East and most of Australia", said the ministry of earth sciences in a statement.

It said the next eclipse of the Moon will occur on January 31 next year. It will, however, be a total lunar eclipse. It will also be visible from India.

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon but these three celestial bodies do not fall in straight line in space. "Only a small fraction of the Moon will come under the Earth's shadow at maximum eclipse", said the ministry, referring to the partial lunar eclipse.

Director of the Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi N Rathnashree said the penumbral part of the lunar eclipse will be seen at 9.20 pm on Monday night till 2.20 am the following morning. The partial eclipse will begin at 10.52 pm and last just under two hours. A penumbral eclipse occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the moon align in a straight line. When this happens, the Sun’s light is intercepted by Earth, and stopped from reaching the moon’s surface, thereby covering all or part of the Moon with the outer part of its shadow.

“The interesting thing about lunar eclipse timings is that anywhere on Earth from where the Moon is visible during eclipse, the time will be the same. This is in contrast to a solar eclipse in which the timings of the contacts change as the location changes on Earth,” Rathnashree was quoted as saying by PTI. The Nehru Planetarium in New Delhi will be open for visitors to view the eclipse and the partial phases of it from 9 pm at the Teen Murti lawns on Monday night.

The Nehru Planetarium will be setting up telescopes to help visitors observe the Moon before the eclipse and the partial phases of the eclipse ( 1 hour 57 minutes) at the Teen Murti Bhawan lawns here from 9 pm on Monday night.