Mumbai: Sky-gazers will be able to witness the total lunar eclipse tomorrow, which will be visible partially in some parts of India in the early hours.

"The eclipse will be visible in Western India but only the beginning of the umbral phase (shadow) as the eclipse begins in this part at the time of sunrise and setting of the moon tomorrow morning," Director Nehru planetarium Piyush Pande said. The total lunar eclipse will also be visible from Arctic, Western Asia, Arabia, most of Africa, Europe and Americas, he said.

The next total lunar eclipse can be observed only in December 2010, according to NASA astronomers. Eclipse can be observed tomorrow early morning at around 6.05 am when the moon enters penumbra phase. The moon will enter the shadow or the umbral phase at 7.13 am after that it will last for 51 minutes and at 10.39 am it will move from umbral phase and will end at 11.47 am.

The year 2008 will have two pair of eclipses including a Total Lunar Eclipse on February 21 and a Total Solar Eclipse on August one. The total solar eclipse will be visible in India as a partial event and the partial lunar eclipse, which falls on August 16, also will be visible partially in India.

Source : PTI