Guwahati: The city will witness a total lunar eclipse on Tuesday as the moon passes completely into the earth’s shadow and takes on a reddish hue, popularly known as a ‘blood moon’. The Guwahati Planetarium has arranged a special screening for residents interested in observing the event.The planetarium’s scientific officer, Babul Chandra Bora, said the venue is expecting 100 to 200 visitors and has made arrangements for public viewing. “Those who wish to observe the eclipse can view it directly through the telescope, or watch a live projection on a screen, which will display real-time footage captured by the telescope,” Borah said.He said food and drinks have also been arranged for viewers during the eclipse to counter superstitions associated with it.Bora said the total lunar eclipse will be visible from the northeast, except Sikkim. The partial eclipse will begin at 3.20pm IST, with totality from 4.34pm to 5.33pm, before returning to a partial phase and ending at 6.48pm. “During the event, only the northeast will witness the total phase, whereas the rest of the country will see only the partial phase of the eclipse. In Dibrugarh, the blood red moon will rise at 5.08pm and in Guwahati it will rise at 5.22pm,” he said.Guwahati is expected to see the total phase for nine minutes. Bora called it a rare opportunity for the city despite similar eclipses in recent years. “In 2015, a similar total lunar eclipse took place, but the city could not witness the totality because it occurred between 5.27pm and 5.32pm, while the moon rose at 5.38pm in Guwahati — after the total phase had already ended. The totality was also not visible from the city during the 2021 event as well,” he said.
