Lunar Eclipse 2025: India to witness longest ‘Blood moon’ on Sept 7-8
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India will witness its longest total lunar eclipse since 2022 on the night of September 7–8, with the entire event visible from all parts of the country, the first such occurrence since July 27, 2018, astronomers said. The next comparable eclipse will not occur until December 31, 2028.
Explaining the phenomenon, Divya Oberoi, chair of the Public Outreach and Education Committee (POEC) of the Astronomical Society of India and associate professor at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune, said eclipses do not happen every full or new moon because the moon’s orbit is tilted about 5 degrees to the earth’s orbit. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth comes between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow on the lunar surface.
According to POEC, the penumbral phase of the eclipse will begin at 8:58 pm on September 7. The partial phase will start at 9:57 pm, with the total eclipse phase beginning at 11:01 pm and lasting for 82 minutes. The partial phase will end at 1:26 am, and the eclipse will conclude at 2:25 am on September 8.
“The inner dark shadow of the earth is called the umbra, and the faint outer shadow is the penumbra. As the moon enters the umbra, we first see a partial eclipse,” Oberoi said.
Niruj Mohan Ramanujam, head of Science Communication and Outreach at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, noted that the penumbral phase is difficult to detect with the unaided eye and is best viewed with binoculars or a telescope.
Unlike solar eclipses, no protective gear is needed to watch a total lunar eclipse. “The moon turns a striking copper red when it is fully inside the umbra,” said B.S. Shylaja, former director at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. This colour shift, often called a “blood moon,” occurs because red sunlight passing through the earth’s atmosphere illuminates the moon while blue light is scattered. The exact hue will depend on atmospheric dust and smoke levels.
Astronomy institutions, amateur clubs, and organisations across India are planning public viewing events and live streams of the eclipse.
The rare total lunar eclipse will also be visible across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, much of the Arab world, Asia, Australia, and parts of Europe and Africa, making it one of the most widely observed lunar eclipses in recent years.
