GUWAHATI, Jan 30 - Tomorrow evening a rare celestial phenomenon, involving the moon, will be visible in the sky from 5.18 pm till 8.42 pm IST all over India. It will also be visible in the whole of Asia, Australia, Russia, North America and in the island countries located on the Pacific Ocean in their IST-corresponding hours.
The moon will emerge 14 per cent bigger than its usual size and it will also be seemed to be 30 per cent brighter than its usual glaze and will also undergo a total eclipse.
The moon will start undergoing its eclipse at 5.18 pm and its total eclipse will occur at 6.21 pm. The eclipse will continue till 7.38 pm. At 8.42 pm, the moon will come out of the shadow of the earth fully. This eclipse is taking place on the day when the moon will come closest to the earth making it appear 14 per cent larger and 30 per cent brighter than what it appears to be in its location at the farthest point in its orbit round the earth.
Thus, the moon will appear in its gigantic size inviting the sobriquet �Super Moon�. However, the moon can usually be seen throughout the totality being illuminated by the sunlight refracted by the atmosphere of the earth into its (moon�s) shadow area and since the blue colour of its light would be scattered away by this phenomenon, the moon would appear as having a coppery-red colour and would thus attract the other epithet �Red Moon�.
Significantly, since the moon would appear in its fullest bloom for the second time in the current month, its second full moon would be called a �Blue Moon�, but this has nothing to do with its colour.
This event of the �Super Moon�, �Blue Moon� and �Coppery-red Moon� occurring on the same day is a very rare phenomenon, said Dr Babul Chandra Bora, curator of the Guwahati Planetarium.
In Guwahati city, the Guwahati Planetarium, in association with the Assam unit of the All India People�s Science Network and Pragjyoti Amateur Astronomy Society will hold an awareness programme on this rare event at the Guwahati Planetarium.
The programme will start from 3.30 pm, said Najibuddin Ahmed of the Assam Science Society. The Science Society is a member of the State wing of the All India People�s Science Network, along with the Gyan Bigyan Society, Ellora Vigyan Mancha and the CRU (NER).
