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Rare celestial phenomenon in the offing

Swapna Khanna in New Delhi

The dictators of our days and nights, the sun, moon and other celestial bodies are in a mood to play hide and seek this month. In a rare celestial phenomenon, three eclipses will occur in the space of 31 days. Last time such an event occurred was in December 1880.

The phenomena of one total lunar eclipse flanked on either side by two partial solar eclipses in one Gregorian calendar month is a rare geometrical configuration of the sun, the moon and the earth in space.

"Only one of these, however, will be visible in India. But even this event will be unique," says K K Chakrabarty, Director of the Positional Astronomy Centre in Calcutta, "as it will be the longest lunar eclipse of its kind since August 13, 1859."

During the lunar eclipse of July 16, the moon will be passing through the centre of the earth's shadow. This will result in the longest period of total eclipse in 141 years.

The eclipse will begin at 1727 hrs IST and will last for 1 hour 47 minutes, an unusually long time. Not only that, such an eclipse will take place again only after the year 3000! "Of course, none of us will be around to verify that," Chakrabarty said.

"The lunar eclipse of July 16, 2000, is sandwiched between two partial solar eclipses, one on July 1 and the other on July 31,2000. This is a rare event and it will not occur again in the next 100 years," he said.

His observations are based on the findings of astronomer Jean Meeus.

"Do not be surprised if on Sunday evening (the 16th), there is no trace of the full moon. The eclipse will start at 1727 hrs IST and the moon is completely visibly again only at 2124 hrs. In between, there will be no trace of it for as long as one hour and 47 minutes."

The phenomenon will be visible mainly from Calcutta and eastern India.

The first partial solar eclipse will be visible mainly over South America, while the second can be seen from western Russia, Scandinavia and north-west America.

When the eclipses begin, the partial ones and the total one, they will be partly visible only in the eastern and north eastern parts of India - Agartala, Aizawl, Kohima, Port Blair, Puri and Shillong. The rest of the country will be able to see the phenomenon only in the ending phases.

"Throughout India, people will see the eclipsed moon rising over the eastern horizon," said Chakrabarty.

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