The first penumbral lunar eclipse for the year will occur on Friday. The eclipse will begin at 10:38pm (Jan.10) and end at 2:42am (Jan.11) Sri Lanka standard time.
NASA has coined the term ‘Wolf Moon Eclipse' for this celestial event. In fact, countries across Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Much of North America, East in South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Arctic will be able to see the lunar eclipse, and the total duration is set to be 4 hours and 5 minutes.
During a penumbral eclipse, the moon does not enter into the dark shadow of the earth, but rather to the lighter shadow. Penumbral eclipses are difficult to observe, especially during the early and late stages.
Therefore, with a penumbral eclipse the dark shadow will not be visible, as with a total or partial lunar eclipse - only a reduction of the brightness of the moon, said the Prof. Chandana Jayaratne, the Director of Astronomy and Space Science Unit, Department of Physics, Colombo University.
There are six eclipses in this year – 4 penumbral lunar eclipses, 01 annular solar eclipse and 01 total solar eclipse. Only the annular solar eclipse of June 21, 2020 is clearly visible to Sri Lanka as a partial solar eclipse from 10.29 a.m. to 1.19 p.m. said Prof Jayaratne.
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