Outlook on Lunar Eclipse

As we know, the moon’s gravity has a direct effect on the tidal movements of the Earth’s largest water bodies. The Earth orbits around the sun while the moon orbits around the earth. The earth takes around 365 days to revolve around the sun, the moon takes 27 days to orbit Earth. Lunar Eclipse can only occur on the full moon day when the sun fully adorns the surface. Three kinds of eclipses take place: total Lunar eclipse, partial lunar eclipse, penumbral lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse can only happen if all three are precisely or almost closely aligned.

For the repetition of lunar eclipse following criteria and parameters must be fulfilled

• Full phase moon
• The longitude of the apogee must be the same 
• Longitude of descending or ascending order must be the identical 

Types of a Lunar Eclipse

• Total Lunar Eclipse:

When the earth comes between the sun and the moon, a total lunar eclipse takes place. During this time, the shadow of the Earth covers the moon. There is a limitation to the solar eclipse that is visible from only a small area of the world, while the lunar eclipse can be glimpsed from anywhere on the night side of the Earth. A total lunar eclipse duration is nearly 2 hours. The Lunar eclipse is safe to be viewed as compared to the solar eclipse. A total lunar eclipse happens when the moon falls completely under Earth’s shaded area. Just before the complete entry, the moon’s brightness limb. But the curved edges of the moon still receive light from the sun, and due to that, the rest of the moon will tend to appear comparatively faint. As the moon enters a complete eclipse, the whole surface of the moon occurs more or slightly uniformly luminous. As the moon’s opposite part is hit by sunlight, the all-around disk will again become enigmatic. This is because when observed from the earth, the limb of the moon is viewed as brighter as compared to other surfaces due to reflections. And this is the reason why the rims of the full moon appear brighter than the rest of the moon. 

• Partial Lunar Eclipse

As the name somehow suggests that when the sun, the moon, and the earth are not aligned exactly. So only a part of the moon proceeds into Earth’s shadow, and only that part seems red. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the earth comes in between the moon and the sun, but these three celestial bodies are not aligned in the same line. For a partial lunar eclipse to take place, two conditions must happen at a time. A full moon and the three celestial bodies should be almost aligned in the exact line. Though a partial lunar eclipse does not occur every full moon night, the reason is the inclination of the moon’s orbital plane. The orbital plane of the moon is inclined at 5° to the earth’s orbit around the sun.  A point at which the two orbital planes meet is called lunar nodes. On a full moon, when the moon is near the node lunar eclipse takes place. 

• Penumbral Lunar Eclipse

A type of lunar eclipse happens when the earth, the moon, and the sun are imperfectly aligned. During this time, the earth prevents some of the sunlight from reaching the moon’s surface directly, and the earth covers part of the moon with its own outpart shadow, known as the penumbra.

These are three types of the lunar eclipse, while the rest are the phases of the moon. 

Conclusion

The duration and type of the lunar eclipse depend on the moon’s nearness to either orbit or node. There are many planets and moons in the solar system, but the Earth is lucky to experience lunar eclipses because the earth’s shadow is large enough to encircle the moon completely.