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By abuali
#15676
(bismillah)
(salam)

We are fortunate to again be presented with an opportunity to witness a beautiful sign of Allah (SWT).

Tomorrow night (15 June) starting at about half past 9 (DSM Time), the moon will start its journey of falling into the shadow of the Earth (aka Moon Eclipse). The journey, which will end with the moon coming out of the shadow at the other end, will take us into the early morning of Thursday 16 June, ending at about 2 am.

Find below an interesting article about the same by Dr. Jiwaji
Darkest Total Lunar Eclipse
By Dr. Noorali Jiwaji
ntjiwaji@yahoo.com

On Wednesday night, 15th June 2011, Tanzania will experience the darkest total lunar eclipse of this century. The last such eclipse took place 40 years ago on 6th August 1971. The Moon will pass right through the centre of the Earth’s shadow, which is the deepest part of the shadow.

The dark (umbral) part of the eclipse will start at 9:23 pm on June 15th and will end just past midnight at 01:03 am, of 16th June.

The night of the eclipse it will be a Full Moon, with Moon rising at 6:03 pm 4 minutes before sunset. Three hours later, at 9:22 pm the eastern edge of the Moon’s bright disk will begin to be eaten away as the Moon enters the Earth’s shadow. This is the partial phase of the eclipse. After one hour at 10:22 pm, the whole Moon will be immersed in shadow and the total lunar eclipse begins. The Moon passes diametrically through the Earth’s shadow so by mid eclipse at 11:02 pm it will be in the darkest part of the shadow causing it to be the darkest eclipse of this century and not seen for the past 40 years.

The full disk of Moon will be covered fully in shadow until 12:03 am, just after midnight, when the eastern edge will begin to come out of the dark shadow and will begin to be lighted up. This will go on for another hour until 1:02 am when the Moon will be completely out of the dark and the dark part of the eclipse ends.

The whole eclipse normally includes its lighter (penumbral) part which is not visible to the eyes. This begins an hour earlier than the dark part and ends an hour later after the dark part has ended. So the full duration of the eclipse is from 8:24 pm to 2:01 am.

Eclipses occur when the sun, earth and moon are exactly aligned in a straight line so that shadow of one body can fall on the other. Solar eclipses occur when moon’s tiny shadow falls on a small part of our huge earth. What will happen on June 15 however is a lunar eclipse, when the earth’s huge shadow will cover up completely the much smaller moon (see diagram for lunar eclipse). During a completely total eclipse the whole moon is in the earth’s shadow while if the whole moon is not completely within the shadow, we say that the lunar eclipse is partial. So a even this lunar eclipse will start with a partial phase as the moon slowly enters the dark portion, and also ends with a partial stage as the moon moves slowly moves out to the dark umbral part.

During a total lunar eclipse the moon does not become completely dark and disappear from view. In fact some light enters even the darkest parts of the shadow due to bending (refraction) of sunlight by the earth’s atmosphere. Our eyes also adapt to the darkness and the low intensity of light in the shadow, by widening (dilating) the pupils of our eyes. So the totally eclipsed moon takes a ghostly image of a huge ball floating in the sky, a sight worth witnessing.

Pollutants such as smoke from forest fires, dust from volcanoes, and emissions from man made sources such as industries and other human activities that enter the earth's atmosphere influence the light passing through it. Some of this light still enters the dark part of the earth’s shadow that falls on the moon. In the outer part of the dark shadow called the penumbra (see lunar eclipse diagram), a lot of this light passing through the earth’s atmosphere leaks into the shadow on the moon. So the colour and intensity of the totally eclipsed moon between 4:06 a.m. and 4:31 a.m. is expected to vary widely across the whole face of the moon. A clear atmosphere makes the moon look orangey while dust and smoke will make the moon appear dirty grey. This is your chance to observe the effect of pollutants in our atmosphere.
Those who have cameras, it would be a good idea to click some photos. These can then be posted here on Ask for everyone to see, especially those who are not in this part of the world.
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