Bhubaneswar: On May 26 evening, a rare celestial event will unfold its mesmerizing act when a Super Blood Moon will be seen in the eastern sky, just after a total lunar eclipse. The most interesting part of this super lunar phenomenon is that three major events will be taking place all at once, namely 'Supermoon', 'Red Blood Moon' and a Lunar Eclipse.
The total lunar eclipse which will start at around 3:15 pm and end at 6:22 pm will be visible mostly from Eastern Asia, Pacific Ocean, most parts of North and South America and Australia.
For most of India, the moon will be below the eastern horizon during the total eclipse and so people of the country cannot observe a blood moon, but in some parts, mostly from eastern India, people will see only the very last part of a partial lunar eclipse, that is also very close to the eastern horizon when the moon is just rising.
So what is Supermoon: When a full moon happens near the perigee, the closest point in the Moon's orbit around the Earth, it is known as Supermoon as on that point, the full moon looks 30 per cent bigger and 14 per cent brighter than the normal full moon.
What is Blood Moon: This super lunar phenomenon occurs when the moon is completely covered by the Earth's shadow, giving it a red colour which is nicely explained by the NASA.
It says that the eclipsed moon is dimly illuminated by red-orange light leftover from all of the sunsets and sunrises occurring around the world at that time. The more dust or clouds in Earth's atmosphere during the eclipse, the redder the moon will appear.
The next total lunar eclipse will occur on May 16, 2022, but, it will not be visible from the Indian subcontinent. But on November 8, 2022 a lunar eclipse will be seen from India.