Eye-catching total lunar eclipse in Bangladesh tonight

A rare cosmic spectacle will be seen across the sky tonight—a total lunar eclipse. Apart from Bangladesh, this spectacle will be witnessed from various parts of Asia, Europe and many countries in Africa.

This lunar eclipse is known as a ‘blood moon’ or red moon. When the sun, Earth and moon come in the same straight line, the shadow of the earth falls on the moon. Then the moon takes on a reddish or dark red color, which has been surprising people for ages.

This time, the eclipse will be most clearly visible in Asia, especially from India and China. If the sky is clear from Bangladesh, it will be possible to easily enjoy the red moon. In addition, the lunar eclipse will also be visible from the western part of Australia and the eastern part of Africa.

According to Bangladesh time, the total eclipse will begin at 11:30 pm tonight and end at 12:52 am.

Ryan Milligan, an astrophysicist at Queen’s University Belfast, said that during a lunar eclipse, sunlight reaches the moon, which is refracted and scattered by the Earth’s atmosphere. Blue light is easily scattered because its wavelength is shorter than red. That's why the moon appears reddish during an eclipse.

There's no need to use glasses like for a solar eclipse; a clear sky is enough to enjoy the lunar eclipse.

The last total lunar eclipse was seen in March of this year. Before that, skywatchers witnessed such a rare sight in 2022.