India will get a glimpse of a rare Selenelion lunar eclipse Wednesday when both the sun and the eclipsed moon can be observed at the same time.
The total lunar eclipse will be visible in the Americas, Australasia and Asia.
The rare celestial phenomenon will be visible in New Delhi for barely a few minutes -- from between 5.58 p.m. to 6.04 p.m. In Delhi, moonrise is at 5.58 p.m. while the partial phase of the eclipse ends at 6.04 p.m., said a Nehru Planetarium statement.
During a Selenelion eclipse, the sun and moon will be exactly 180 degrees apart in the sky during the lunar eclipse. However, both will be briefly visible at the same time because of a trick of the light in which refraction lifts their images above the horizon, reports LiveScience.
As a consequence of the atmospheric refraction, the images of both the sun and moon would be apparently lifted above the horizon. This will allow people in America to see the sun for several extra minutes before it actually has risen and the moon for several extra minutes after it has actually set.
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Watchers in many localities east of the Mississippi River will have a chance to observe the unusual sight of simultaneously seeing the sun rising in the east while the eclipsed full moon is setting in the west.
The sighting would be for roughly two to nine minutes.
"The places from where the beginning of the umbral phase is visible at the time of moonset are some parts of Argentina, Brazil, North Atlantic Ocean and Greenland while the ending of umbral phase is visible at the time of moonrise are Indian Ocean, some parts of India, western parts of China, some parts of Kazakhstan and Russia," said an official statement.
"At the time of moonrise, the umbral phase partial phase of the eclipse will be visible for a short duration in India, except from western region of the country," it added.
