On Wednesday, at around midnight, places across India will witness one of the darkest lunar eclipses in nearly 100 years.
The darkness is due to the ashes thrown into the Earth’s atmosphere by the recent eruption of the volcano Grimsvotn in Iceland, along with dust and ashes from last year’s volcanic eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull, also in Iceland, according to astronomy experts.
H.R. Madhusudan, scientific officer, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bengaluru, explains, “The dust and ash particles from the volcano in the earth’s atmosphere will absorb the light from the sun and prevent it from reaching the moon. The intensity of the darkness will depend on the size of the particles. Since it is a total lunar eclipse this time, the Sun, Earth and Moon will be in one line, with the Earth in the centre.”
A total lunar eclipse that occurred on December 9, 1992 was also exceptionally dark because on June 15 that year, Mt. Pinatubo check date — google search shows eruption in 1991 in the Philippines erupted for about nine hours during which it discharged something like 15 million tons of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, said Aravind Paranjpye of the of the Inter-University Centre of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune.
He said the darkness of the eclipse can help scientists understand and quantify the amount of dust thrown into the atmosphere by the volcanoes.
Disappearance and Reappearance of the moon
Bengaluru - 11:42 pm(June 15) 1:06 am(June 16)
Mumbai - 11:26 pm 12:58 am
Kolkata - 12:08 am 1:36 am
Delhi - 11:42 pm 1:08 am
Hyderabad - 11:41 pm 1:12 am
Eclipses in the year
Jan 4: Partial solar eclipse
June 1: Partial solar eclipse
June 15: Total lunar eclipse
July 1: Partial solar eclipse
November 25: Partial solar eclipse
December 10: Total lunar eclipse
‘Better safe than sorry’
Several beliefs exist on the inauspicious characteristic of the total lunar eclipse or the full moon. Studies have indicated that it affects the mind during this time, stated astrologer S.K. Jain.
“Despite several studies suggesting caution at the time of such an eclipse, the effects of it are still to be fully understood”, he said.
“Police have also said that they scale up vigilance during such nights as people are prone to accidents. Natural calamities such as earthquake, volcanoes, and tsunamis are proven to occur during this time,” added Mr Jain.
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