Hyderabad: The year 2009 ends in a "Blue
Moon". December has two full moons, the first on Decebmer 2nd
and second full moon will take place on December 31.
On December 31, the last day of the year, there will be a
partial eclipse of the moon which will be visible from all
over India. A small portion of the moon will be darkened.
Technically, the eclipse begins at 22 hours 45 minutes (IST),
but for practical purposes the darkening begins 22 minutes
after midnight, Dr B G Sidharth, Director, B M Birla Science
Centre said in a release here today.
He said that this phenomenon, when two full moons take
place within the same month, is not common and when it does
happen, the second full moon of the month is called "Blue
Moon".
The maximum of the eclipose is reached at 53 minutes past
midnight. Even at this time, only a small portion of the moon
would appear darkened, he said adding that the eclipse then
decreases and is over at 24 minutes past 1 `o` clock of the
January, 1.
However, the moon continues to be in the region of
partial shadow, which is not a significant sight, till 3.00 am
on January 1. There are no precautions to be taken for viewing
this eclipse. Similary the belief that one should not move out
or eat food during an eclipse has no sceintific bases, he said
in the release.
-PTI
