The Lunar eclipse

Additional Reporting By Nadia al-Awadi, IOL Staff

CAIRO, November 9 (IslamOnline.net News Agencies) – This year's holy month of Ramadan witnesses for the first time in more than two decades two total lunar and solar eclipses in much more visually pleasing spectacle than similar eclipses.

People in Africa and Europe woke up at dawn Sunday, November 9 (Ramadan 14), to enjoy the moon turning coppery red, seeing the breath-taking spectacle with their naked eyes. But optical aids offer the chance to better investigate craters on the moon and the subtle shading and coloring of the eclipse.

The total solar eclipse can be seen on November 23 (Ramadan 28) for only a minute and 55 seconds in Antarctica, the South Indian Ocean, Australia, New Zealand and South America.

The most recent Ramadan to feature two eclipses was during the Ramadan of 1982 (1402 AH).

The easy-to-watch lunar eclipse was aired live Saturday evening, November 8, over most of North and South America. The visible portion of the eclipse began in the Americas just after 6 p.m. Ephemeris Time (ET).

The moon went into total eclipse at 8:06 p.m. ET and emerged from totality 25 minutes later, according the space.com website.

It took a reddish color as light from all the worlds sunsets and sunrises was bent through Earth’s atmosphere and fell on the lunar surface, then was reflected back to Earth.

Because the moon is near the edge of the shadow, the coloring effect was greater than what occurred during the May 15 eclipse.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth gets directly between the Sun and the Moon. When this occurs, a fuzzy outer shadow, called a penumbra, fell gradually on the moon. 

If Earth’s shadow is only cast on a portion of the Moon, then the eclipse is a partial one. The lunar eclipse can only occur at the Full Moon phase.

If Earth had no atmosphere, a total lunar eclipse would cause the Moon to look completely black; however the atmosphere around the Earth has a filtering and refracting effect on the Sun’s light depending on the amount of dust and clouds present. This causes the moon to take on a variety of different colors during total eclipses that range from dark gray or brown to bright orange, red and yellow.

Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and casts its shadow on Earth’s surface.

This can only occur at the "New Moon" phase. The solar eclipse usually lasts for only a few minutes when one can see the solar corona, which appears as a ring of bright sunlight surrounding the Moon that appears as a black disc.

The most recent total solar eclipse occurred in 1999. Special precautions must be taken for a safe sighting of a solar eclipse.

It is recommended by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that during an eclipse one should remember Allah, say Takbir, and to pray Salat Al-Kusoof (in the case of a solar eclipse) or Salat Al-Khusoof (in the case of a lunar eclipse).