Viewing lunar eclipse of 5th June : an efficient and effortless watch

Viewing lunar eclipse of 5th June : an efficient and effortless watch 

A blog on the universe and the cosmos above and the nature of it determined by great scientists.

There is an unique eclipse occurrence on June 5 , 2020. Some of the tips which may help you having a great view of the eclipse : - 1. Know more about the exact position of the moon in the sky, 2. Start gazing the sky at right time, 3. If the moon is not visible then move on to higher location [ terrace ] and more.

• When & where this lunar eclipse will occur
• 5 Tips for viewing it
• What is penumbral Lunar eclipse
• Why so special ?

When & where this Lunar eclipse will occur :

                    This special Penumbral Lunar eclipse is set to take the show on the 5th of June in 2020. As the report suggests, this penumbral lunar eclipse will have a wide visibility range with countries situated in  Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa having the best chance of taking a glimpse of this eclipse on the night of 5th June.

                    If you are situated at correct locations then, you can start watching for the moon right after the rise time of eclipse. For people living in India, the eclipse will start at around 11:15 pm on 5th June and the eclipse may last up to 12: 54 am on the 6th of June. Below is a table consisting of a list of about 40  countries falling in the contents mentioned above. I have also mentioned the Time at which you may be able to see it. So search for your country accordingly in the table for getting average rise and set time of the eclipse.

Group number	Area	Countries included	Average Rise time of the eclipse	Average set time of the eclipse	Date
1.	Western countries of Europe	Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria and Poland	At / After 8 : 51 pm	At / Before 10 : 04 pm	5th June 2020
2.	Northern countries of Europe	Denmark, UK, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Norway	At / After 9 : 00 pm	At / Before 10 : 10	5th June 2020
3.	Northern countries of Asia	Russia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan	At / After 1 : 45 am	At / Before 3 : 30 am	6th June 2020
4.	Mid and western countries of Asia	India, China, Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan	At / After 11 : 15 pm	At / Before 2 : 34 am	5th and 6th June 2020
5.	Northern and western countries of Africa	Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Algeria	At / After 8 : 10 pm	At / Before 11 : 05 pm	5th June 2020
6.	Southern countries of Africa	South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and  Tanzania	At / After 7 : 45 pm	At / Before 11 : 10 pm	5th June 2020
7.	Australian continent	Australia	At / After 3 : 50 am	At / Before 7 : 05 am	6th June 2020
8.	Small countries between Asia and Australia	Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia	At / After 12 : 50 am	At / Before 4 : 00 am	5th and 6th June 2020
9.	Small countries between Asia and Australia	South Korea, Japan and Philippines	At / After 1 : 50 am	At / Before 5 : 10 am	6th June 2020

5 Tips for viewing it :

                    The moon is a large enough body to be easily witnessed in the night sky. But still if you read the 5 tips below, it will make your watch quite easier and you will be able to get the most out of your watch.

1. The Apparent motion of moon : Knowing about the apparent motion of the moon across the night sky could really prove to be useful. Apparent motion means the motion of the moon as we observe it from the earth, that is driving across the sky from east to west.

                    But what if I told you that moon neither rises from east or nor sets in the west. Yes, that's a true fact. The moon rises about a few degrees north or a few degrees south to the precise geographical east and also sets a few degrees north or south to the precise geographical west. So the first tip is to look for the moon a few degrees far from the exact east and west locations marked by your compass.

2. Time : Time is very crucial for viewing any kind of eclipse. You of course don't want to be late. But there is something more tricky about eclipses. Eclipses don't occur from the very time sun or moon appear in the sky. There is a fixed time period at which the eclipse occurs.

                    There is absolutely no reason for you to sit and gaze the moon right from the time of its rise. You should consider the rise and set timings of eclipses and then sit to gaze them at that particular time. For this very reason I have also mentioned the rise and set time of the eclipse in your country group in the table above. You can use it to your full advantage.

3. Place : As I mentioned above, this Penumbral eclipse on the 5th June 2020 will be visible to most of the countries in Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa. You an consider checking out the above table to see if the eclipse will be visible from your country.

                    No eclipse is visible to each to every place on earth at the same time. the reason is that solar and lunar eclipses are caused by moon and sun. In lunar eclipses, the moon enters earth's shadow, and because earth's shadow is quite larger than the moon, it takes quite a lot of time to cross the shadow and is visible to a larger area of earth. So just before making preparations for viewing the eclipse, go through the table to see if the eclipse would be visible in your country or not.

the area between  black and red lines will experience a partial penumbra lunar eclipse with only a part of moon being underneath the shadow of the earth. While the area inside the red line will witness the whole moon immersed in earth's shadow. ( sorry for a bit shabbiness ! )

4. Weather : Weather is something which could ruin your plans. So read on the weather forecast of 5th June well in advance. It is not something like heavy rains and thunder or very hot climates could bother you, they are the clouds which create problem. So check out forecasts to see if your region falls in the cloudy area. And if it is then it is your hard luck, cause weather can't be changed.

5. Urbanization : If you are living in cities which are some of the really polluted ones, then viewing an eclipse can be really difficult. But because nowadays pollution has decreased considerably, it is easy to see these eclipses from such cities as well.

                    But if you have many tall buildings blocking your view, then you should consider going to places at higher altitudes like your building terrace or move to a place like a open ground to see this eclipse if possible. [ Please don't violate lockdown/curfew rules to view this eclipse ]. This is a very common tip but people often mess it up by waiting for the moon to be seen from their house and till then the eclipse ends ; so just shared it with you so that you don't make the same mistake.

What is Penumbral Lunar Eclipse :

                    Penumbral Lunar Eclipse is one of the type of lunar eclipses. There are sub types of lunar as well as solar eclipses that occur. But all of them are just a natural phenomena and there is nothing superstitious behind their occurrences. I have written a article in great detail all about eclipses. If interested then click here to read that article.

                    So just describing what Penumbral Lunar eclipse is. Penumbral lunar eclipse just a type of lunar eclipses. Lunar eclipses occur when the moon enters the shadow of the earth and the 3 celestial bodies, namely sun, earth and moon are positioned in this very sequence and are perfectly aligned at 180 degrees with each other. If these conditions are met then the eclipse we observe is called a lunar eclipse.Penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when then moon just passes through the penumbral region of the earth's shadow without touching the umbra.

                    So the shadow casted by the earth can be divided into two parts, umbra and penumbra. The Umbra is the central and dark region of the shadow while the penumbra is the region surrounding umbra and is the light region of the shadow. The Umbra extends for a very small distance. Well on the other hand, penumbral region extends for much longer distance making it possible for the moon to pass only through the penumbral region [ lighter shadow region ] without touching the umbra [ darker shadow region ].

What is so special about this eclipse ? 

                    So this eclipse is just like others. The difference is, that this eclipse is the only 2nd eclipse in this decade and is the 3rd last lunar eclipse of this year. There are two more lunar eclipses this year but that is not a good reason to not witness this one.

                   Also the moon was in the perigee position [ perigee definition in the next paragraph ] just 2 days before this eclipse. So the moon will be pretty big than the usual size that you witness. So these are enough reasons to not miss out his reddish colored penumbral lunar eclipse on the 5th of June. So I have set a timer for the eclipse to begin which you can see by clicking on the three lines at the top right corner of this page.

Perigee definition : Moon's orbit is not perfectly circular in shape, it is in a shape called  as elliptical. Elliptical means a little stretched circle. And because the moon has an elliptical orbit, it is sometimes very close to earth and sometimes quite far. This year, the moon was at the Perigee position on June 3. Perigee means the position at which moon is the closest to the earth and hence looks quite bigger than its usual size. So the moon will be closest to earth 2 days before the eclipse.

The size of moon in apogee position [ furthest from earth ] is about 14% smaller then the size of moon in perigee position [ closest moon ]

So guys, if you liked the content, then feel free to share it on your favourite social media platform. Also subscribe to our blogs to get the notification related to the next article in which I will be covering tips on viewing Annular Solar Eclipse in June 2020.

Happy Viewing !!!