Dubai: Tomorrow is one of those very rare occasions as astronomers will tell you.
Skywatchers can get a glimpse of the partial lunar eclipse and the Harvest Supermoon whose occurence is said to be exceptional as they happen to “coincide” this time.
But before you get your hopes too high, the partial lunar eclipse may be a tad too early and difficult to see in the region for you to catch it clearly in the UAE skies.
As Sheeraz Ahmad Awan, General Manager of the Dubai Atsronomy Group (DAG), told Gulf News: “The partial lunar eclipse is a bit tricky for people in the region. It starts at 4.41am, which is rather early, and is pretty close to the time that the Moon sets and goes out of sight.”
He explained how the penumbral lunar eclipse tomorrow is very subtle and difficult to observe.
A partial lunar eclipse occurs when a portion of the Moon passes through the Earth’s umbral shadow. But the Moon will pass through only part of the umbra while the rest of the Moon will be covered by the Earth’s outermost shadow, the penumbra.
However, given the circumstances, DAG has made arranagements to do a livestreaming of the partial eclipse as seen in other regions of the world. The celestial event will be fully visible from North and South America, Europe, Africa and parts of Asia.
“So at around 4.30am, UAE residents can join us on our website for the global livestream of the partial lunar eclipse with Timeanddate.com through YouTube tomorrow,” said Awan.
He said to watch the Harvest Supermoon, residents can join DAG at a special event in the evening.
“The ticketed event will be held from 7pm to 9pm at the University of Dubai. We will be holding lectures and organising telescopic viewings.”
The Supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth, Awan said.
The Supermoon is one of four happening this year and is significant because of its rarity in coinciding with the partial lunar eclipse occurance, he added.
