Wednesday 12 / March / 2025
Muscat: The skies of the Sultanate of Oman will witness a total lunar eclipse tomorrow, Thursday, March 13th, the first of 2025. While this astronomical event will be visible across a significant portion of the globe, residents of the Sultanate of Oman will experience limited visibility. According to Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalidi, a member of the Omani Society for Astronomy and Space, the penumbral eclipse will commence at 7:57 a.m. local Oman time, followed by the partial eclipse at 9:09 a.m. The total eclipse will begin at 10:26 a.m. and conclude at 11:31 a.m., with the partial and penumbral phases ending at 12:47 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. respectively. The entire lunar eclipse, encompassing all phases, will last approximately six hours and three minutes.
However, it's important to note that due to the moon reaching its peak in Muscat Governorate at 5:45 a.m., which precedes the commencement of the penumbral eclipse, residents of Oman will not be able to observe the full spectacle. The lunar eclipse will, however, be visible across large areas of Australia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Antarctica and North America, where it is nighttime.
A lunar eclipse is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs when the Earth's shadow obscures the sunlight reflected by the moon, aligning the Earth, sun, and moon in a straight line. There are three distinct types of lunar eclipses: a total eclipse, where the entire moon enters the Earth's umbra, resulting in a reddish appearance; a partial eclipse, where only a portion of the moon enters the umbra; and a penumbral eclipse, where the moon enters only the penumbra, causing a dimming effect. The reddish hue observed during a total eclipse is due to the refraction of red light through the Earth's upper atmosphere. Lunar eclipses occur during a full moon, unlike solar eclipses, which occur during a new moon. Eclipses do not occur monthly due to the tilt of the moon's orbit around the Earth. Lunar eclipses can happen up to three times annually, while solar eclipses can occur up to five times.
