Supermoon lunar eclipse: rare chance to see spectacular celestial event

Rare chance to see spectacular celestial event

A rare spectacular celestial event that has not occurred for 30 years will take place in the early hours of Monday. The Moon will turn a rusty hue and may seem larger in the sky as a total lunar eclipse coincides an astronomical event called a supermoon.

Some religious groups believe that the rare lunar eclipse is a sign from God before the apocalypse and the second coming of Christ.

This is the first total lunar eclipse since 2008 where the whole eclipse will be visible from the UK.

The last time a supermoon coincided with a lunar eclipse was in 1982 and will not occur again until 2033.

The Moon will be seen passing through the Earth's shadow in the early hours of Monday morning.

In a total lunar eclipse, the Earth, Sun and Moon are almost exactly in line and the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun.

As the full Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, it dims dramatically but usually remains visible, lit by sunlight that passes through the Earth's atmosphere.

The Moon may be brick-coloured, rusty, blood red or sometimes dark grey, depending on terrestrial conditions.

A supermoon occurs when a full or new moon coincides with a Moon that is nearing its minimum distance (perigee) to Earth.

The Moon takes an elliptical orbit around Earth, which means that its average distance changes from as far as 405,000km (its apogee) to as close as 363,000km at the perigee.

The coincidence between a supermoon and an eclipse means that the Moon is expected to look 7-8% bigger.

The eclipse will start at 01:11am, when the Moon enters the lightest part of the Earth's shadow, known as the penumbra, and adopts a yellowish colour. At 03:11am, the Moon completely enters the umbra - the inner dark corpus of our planet's shadow.

The point of greatest eclipse occurs at 03:47am, when the Moon is closest to the centre of the umbra. The eclipse is over by 05:22am.

A total lunar eclipse is safe to watch and needs no special equipment.