Total lunar eclipse to grace Assam, Northeast skies on September 7–8

Guwahati, Sept 7: Stargazers in Assam and the Northeast will be treated to a spectacular celestial event, as a total lunar eclipse will be visible tonight and in the early hours of September 8 from Assam, the Northeast, and the rest of India.

The eclipse will also be seen from large parts of Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

A lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, aligning all three in a straight line. During totality, the Moon will appear coppery red as sunlight filtered through the Earth’s atmosphere scatters blue wavelengths and lets the red tones pass through. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are completely safe to view with the naked eye

Babul Ch Bora, consulting scientific officer at the Planetarium said that for the people of Assam and the Northeast, it is a chance to observe the Moon’s transformation without any special equipment.

According to the India Meteorological Department’s Positional Astronomical Centre, the partial phase of the eclipse will begin at 9.57 pm on September 7. The total eclipse will start at 11.00 pm and continue until 12.23 am on September 8, giving a totality period of 1 hour and 23 minutes. The full eclipse, including the partial phases, will end at 1.27 am, with an overall duration of 3 hours and 30 minutes and a magnitude of 1.368.

The last lunar eclipse visible from India was a partial eclipse on October 28, 2023. The next, also a total lunar eclipse, will occur on March 3, 2026.

Observers are advised to choose open areas away from city lights for the clearest view. Even as no public sighting event has been planned for the midnight eclipse, the Gauhati Planetarium officials will be present at the planetarium during the period.