82-minute rare lunar eclipse a treat for skywatchers

India looked skyward on the night of September 7 to witness a total lunar eclipse that combined astronomy, culture and spectacle. For 82 minutes, the moon moved through the Earth’s shadow in an unusually prolonged event, glowing a deep red before returning to its usual brightness — a sight visible across the country and much of South and East Asia.

The eclipse began at 8:58 pm with the penumbral phase. The partial stage started at 9:57 pm, and the total eclipse reached its peak at 11:48 pm, lasting almost 48 minutes before ending at 12:22 am. The entire sequence stretched over five hours, giving millions of people time to observe.

OP Gupta, senior engineer, Nehru Planetarium, said the event was entirely safe to watch. “The full stage of the eclipse lasted around 48 minutes. People could watch it without any precautions.”

What made this eclipse rare was its length. Astronomers explained that because the moon was near its apogee — the farthest point from the Earth — it appeared smaller and moved slowly across the central part of Earth’s shadow. This geometry created one of the decade’s longest total lunar eclipses. With a total phase lasting around 82 minutes, the eclipse was visible not only in India but also across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia, including neighbouring countries of India like Pakistan and China.

Beyond the striking duration was the moon’s colouring. During totality, the lunar surface turned coppery red, a phenomenon widely known as a “Blood Moon.” According to Ryan Milligan, an astrophysicist at Queen’s University Belfast, this glow comes from the Earth’s atmosphere acting as a filter. “The Moon appears red during lunar eclipses because the only sunlight reaching it is reflected and scattered through the Earth’s atmosphere. Blue light is scattered more easily than red, leaving the Moon with its iconic ‘bloody glow’,” AFP quoted Milligan as saying.

The eclipse coincided with Pitru Paksha, a period in Hindu tradition dedicated to remembering one’s ancestors. Observers across India balanced ritual practices with stargazing, with some families choosing to mark the occasion with prayers.