Lunar Eclipses 2020- Date and Time
A lunar eclipse is also known as Chandra Grahan. It is an astronomical as well as an astrological event involving the Sun, the Earth and the Moon. When the Earth while orbiting the Sun comes in between the Sun and the Moon, a lunar eclipse occurs. This occurrence of eclipse steals the Moon’s shine and by blocking the sunlight which is reflected by the Moon.
This event prevents the sunlight from falling on the surface of the Moon and instead causes the shadow of the Earth to fall on it, thus resulting in a lunar eclipse.
There are overall three types of lunar eclipses namely – total, partial, and penumbral. To understand them, one needs to understand two types of shadows – umbra and penumbra. The region of the shadow caused when the Earth completely occludes the Sun’s direct radiation is called the umbra, while the region where the Earth partially blocks sunlight is called the penumbra. A penumbral lunar eclipse appears whenever the Moon falls from the sunlight in this constellation region of Earth’s shadow.
This is the most common and often occurring type of lunar eclipse and can occur several times a year, as is the case in 2020. A very rare type of penumbral lunar eclipse is a total penumbral lunar eclipse when the entire Moon comes in the penumbra region of Earth’s shadow. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the Moon falls in the umbra region of Earth’s shadow.
Finally, a total lunar eclipse is said to occur when the entire Moon is in the Earth’s umbra region. This year for the very first time four penumbral lunar eclipses will take place. NASA has coined the term ‘Wolf Moon Eclipse‘ for this rare celestial event.
Moon doesn’t have a light of its own and only reflects the light which it gets from the Sun. During the time of the eclipse, the moon is covered by the shadow of the Earth, and some sunlight will still reach it after passing through the atmosphere of the earth.
It makes the Earth’s atmosphere to block out most of the blue light that makes the moon appear red. The illumination gives the moon a spectacularly vivid look, turning it from bright orange to blood red as Blood Moon. Depending upon the portion of the Earth’s shadow which the Moon will be passing through, its color may vary from dark brown to dark gray too.
Unless Lunar Eclipse can be seen through the naked eye, it is of no significance to Hindus and Hindus don’t consider it for any religious activities. Penumbral Lunar Eclipses only makes the Moon look a little dull and are not visible to the naked eye hence no rituals related to Chandra Grahan should be observed.
If Lunar Eclipse is visible during Umbral Phase then only it needs to be considered for religious activities. Most Hindu Calendars don’t list Penumbral Eclipses. If Chandra Grahan is not visible in your city then you should not observe it even if it is visible some city near to that. Precautions that are advised during Sutak needs to be observed only if Chandra Grahan is visible in your city. Chandra Grahan is considered even if the Moon is not visible due to any bad weather conditions like the cloudy sky.
Precautions that are advised during Sutak needs to be observed only if Chandra Grahan is visible in your city. Chandra Grahan is considered even if the Moon is not visible due to any bad weather conditions like the cloudy sky.
Chandra Grahan has a great significance and effect on humans. There are many things that one should avoid doing in Chandra Grahan.
People’s prayers are believed to be more readily acknowledged during Chandra Grahan, and those with certain ‘ doshas ‘ can perform Chandra Puja during this time to get rid of any negative or evil effects of the malefic planets in their horoscope. You can keep Chandra yantra as well as recite Chandra Mantras at home to minimize the rays ‘ harmful effects.
Holy ‘Gangajal’ should be sprinkled all over the house and workplace to reduce the harmful effect of ‘Chandra Grahan’. If you have ‘Kaal-Sarp Yog‘ in your horoscope, the best time you can do prayers to get rid of it is a Lunar eclipse.
You can also get many other remedies for planet moon from Acharya Anand.
Also, you may like reading about What date is the next full moon- Full Moon February 2020
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