Chandra Grahan 2020: Things To Know About June 5 "Strawberry Moon Eclipse"

The skygazers will be witnessing the second lunar eclipse of the year 2020 on Friday, the first one happened on January 10.

People from Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, South America, Pacific, Indian Ocean and Antarctica will be able to watch the upcoming penumbral lunar eclipse or the "Chandra Grahan". The penumbral lunar eclipse is different from the partial and total lunar eclipse. In this phenomenon, the Earth places itself between the Sun and the moon and forms a line, which is not straight. Due to this arrangement, the Earth blocks the sunlight from directly reaching the moon's surface thus forming a shadow, called the penumbra. 

Under this setting, only 57 per cent of the Moon will be passing through the Earth's penumbra. However, since the penumbra is faint in comparison to the dark core of the Earth's shadow, the shadow is hard to differentiate and so the penumbral eclipse looks very similar to a normal Full Moon. 

 Astronomers across the world have termed June 5 lunar eclipse as "Strawberry Moon Eclipse" as the full moon of June is known as the Strawberry Moon. 

The other lunar eclipses of 2020 will occur in July and November and will also be penumbral ones. The "Surya Grahan" or Solar Eclipse will occur on June 21, incidentally, on the longest day of the year. 

There are three types of Lunar Eclipses: 

Total Lunar Eclipse: In this phenomenon, the Moon passes through the Earth's umbral shadow. The inner part of the Earth's shadow is called the umbra. At mid-eclipse, the entire moon is in shadow and may appear blood red. 

Partial Lunar Eclipse: It is a phenomenon wherein only a portion of the Moon passes through the Earth's umbral shadow. 

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: A phenomenon wherein only the more diffuse outer shadow of the Earth -- the penumbra -- falls on the moon's face.