Total Lunar Eclipse - blue moon and super full moon - starts at 1718 hrs

New Delhi: The first Lunar eclipse of the year, with a rare coincidence of a blue moon and a super full moon, will commence today partially from 1718 hrs.

The eclipse will begin as a partial eclipse from 1718 hrs and will continue up to 2042 hrs.

The ending of the total and partial phases of the eclipse will be visible from all places of India.

However the entire eclipse, from the beginning to the end of the partial and total phases, will be visible only from north eastern part of the country including Kolkata.

The total eclipse will start from 1821 hrs and will end at 1938 hrs. The duration of the eclipse will be 3 hours and 24 minutes and the duration of totality will be 1 hour and 17 minutes.

The eclipse will be visible in the region covering North America except the eastern part, western South America, Asia including India, Australia, the Middle East, northern Scandinavia, eastern Europe and eastern Africa, according to sources in the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

The full moon today happens to be the second full moon in January, termed a blue moon.

The beginning of the partial phase will not be visible from the rest of the country, as the partial eclipse will start before the moon rise timings of most of the places in the country.

Similarly, the beginning of the totality phases of the eclipse will not be visible from the places along the extreme western coast of the country including Mumbai.

The next eclipse of the Moon will occur on July 27-28 this year which will be a total lunar eclipse and will be visible in India, sources said.