Bhubaneswar: The longest partial Chandra Grahan (lunar eclipse) will occur today which will be visible from parts of Northeast India. The grahan or eclipse will begin at 12.47 pm and end at 4.17 pm, informed Bhubaneswar’s Deputy Director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium Dr Subhendu Pattnaik.
“The rare phenomenon will be visible (not with naked eye) from a few areas of East India,” he added.
In India, the lunar eclipse will be visible from a few areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The penumbral eclipse will be visible from Odisha, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal also but the visibility from these places will not be for long.
The duration of the partial eclipse is 3 hrs 28 minutes and 24 seconds, making it the longest eclipse of the 21st century and the longest in almost the last 600 years. The last time such a lengthy partial eclipse occurred was on February 18, 1440, and the next time a similar one will occur on February 8, 2669.
According to NASA, the event will begin at approximately 2.19 a.m. EST (12.49 p.m. India time) on Nov 19.
The next total lunar eclipse will be on May 16, 2022, but it will not be visible from India. India will experience a total lunar eclipse on November 8, 2022.
