Total Lunar Eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse

Why in News?

Recently, a Total Lunar Eclipse (TLE) occurred on 8^th November, 2022.

• Earlier Indian witnessed a Partial Solar Eclipse in October 2022.

What is the Lunar Eclipse?

1. Lunar eclipse takes place when Earth’s shadow falls on moon.
2. For this, The Earth has to be directly between the Sun and the Moon.
3. A lunar eclipse can only take place during a full Moon.
4. First, the Moon moves into the penumbra (the part of the Earth’s shadow). Part of the Moon’s disc will look dimmer than a regular full Moon.
5. And then the Moon moves into the Earth’s umbra (where direct light from the Sun is totally blocked out by the Earth), means the only light reflecting off the Moon’s disc has already been refracted, or bent, by the Earth’s atmosphere.

 

Types of Eclipses:

 

 

 

Penumbral	Partial	Total
1. The Moon travels through Earth’s penumbra, or the faint outer part of its shadow. 2. The Moon dims so slightly that it can be difficult to notice.	1. An imperfect alignment of Sun, Earth and Moon results in the Moon passing through only part of Earth's umbra. 2. The shadow grows and then decrease without completely covering the Moon.	1. It happens when the earth comes in between the sun and the moon and earth’s shadow falls on the moon. 2. During this, the whole of the lunar disc enters the Earth’s umbra, so the Moon appears reddish (Blood Moon).

 

 

More About Total Lunar Eclipse:

1. During this the moon takes on a reddish colour due to Rayleigh scattering.

[Rayleigh scattering is the scattering of light by particles in a medium without a change in its wavelength. This is also the reason why the sky appears blue.]

2. The moon turns red during the eclipse since the only sunlight reaching it is passing through the earth’s atmosphere. The sunlight scatters due to the dust or clouds in the atmosphere producing the red colour.
3. Total lunar eclipses occur, on average, about once every year and a half, according to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).