Moon to play hide and seek today

The year’s second lunar eclipse shall occur on June 5. Also referred to as the ‘Chandra Grahan’, it shall be visible in most parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, South America, Pacific, Indian Ocean and Antartica. The penumbral lunar eclipse shall start at 11:15 pm on June 5 and end at 2:34 am on June 6. The entire duration of the eclipse shall be 3 hours and 19 minutes. The eclipse can be seen at its full stage at 12:54 am.

It is referred to as the Strawberry Moon, since the strawberry fruit ripens during the northern summer, however, June’s full moon is also referred to as the ‘Hot Moon’ and the ‘Rose Moon’. The terms were given by Native Americans.

This shall be the second lunar eclipse of 2020, the first one took place on January 10. Only the June 5 eclipse shall be completely seen in India, while the November 29 eclipse shall be partially visible.

Learn more about the phenomenon

• A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun. The Earth obscures the Sun’s light for a specific amount of time, causing the Earth’s shadow to fall on the Moon.
• Unlike a total or partial lunar eclipse, the penumbral eclipse is a very subtle celestial event, when three celestial bodies — the Sun, Earth and the Moon — are not perfectly aligned in a straight line and the Moon enters the Earth’s partially shadowed region called the penumbra.
• In a normal lunar eclipse, the Moon passes through the central part of the Earth’s shadow called umbra and one witnesses considerable darkening of the lunar disc. But in the case of the penumbral lunar eclipse, there will only be a slight dimming of the lunar surface.