ISSUE
Friday, August 22, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 73
Auckland witnessed one of the most beautiful views in the night skies last weekend and it was the lunar eclipse that was visible to the naked eyes.
The lunar eclipse happens because of perfect alignment of the sun, moon and earth with earth being in the centre and the moon under its the shadow. Unlike the solar eclipse that lasts for a few minutes since the size of the moon is smaller to the sun, the lunar eclipse stays for 4 to 5 hours.
The lunar eclipse is also sometimes called as ‘Blood Moon’ since the colour of the moon changes to red and it appears for a few minutes on the backdrop of black sky. The total duration of the eclipse extends from 4 to 6 hours in which the total eclipse is visible only for a few minutes.
According to the meteorological department the eclipse started an hour before the midnight of 4 April and ended around 3 in the morning on Sunday just after daylight savings ended. The eclipse which was partially visible to the New Zealanders, the middle of North Island missed the show but Lower Hutt in Wellington and most parts of the south islands were lucky to see the celestial object in red.
The eclipse which appeared partially at 11.14 pm on Saturday and by 12.55 am the shade of the moon was the combination of colours orange and red. Post 1 am the eclipse started fading and the colour gradually started to change back from red to shadowy black and then to bright white by 2.45 am.
According to the meteorological department next lunar eclipse will be visible from Auckland on 23/24 March in 2016 from midnight until early hours of the morning.
Auckland witnessed one of the most beautiful views in the night skies last weekend and it was the lunar eclipse that was visible to the naked eyes.
The lunar eclipse happens because of perfect alignment of the sun, moon and earth with earth being in the centre and the moon under its the shadow....
Auckland witnessed one of the most beautiful views in the night skies last weekend and it was the lunar eclipse that was visible to the naked eyes.
The lunar eclipse happens because of perfect alignment of the sun, moon and earth with earth being in the centre and the moon under its the shadow. Unlike the solar eclipse that lasts for a few minutes since the size of the moon is smaller to the sun, the lunar eclipse stays for 4 to 5 hours.
The lunar eclipse is also sometimes called as ‘Blood Moon’ since the colour of the moon changes to red and it appears for a few minutes on the backdrop of black sky. The total duration of the eclipse extends from 4 to 6 hours in which the total eclipse is visible only for a few minutes.
According to the meteorological department the eclipse started an hour before the midnight of 4 April and ended around 3 in the morning on Sunday just after daylight savings ended. The eclipse which was partially visible to the New Zealanders, the middle of North Island missed the show but Lower Hutt in Wellington and most parts of the south islands were lucky to see the celestial object in red.
The eclipse which appeared partially at 11.14 pm on Saturday and by 12.55 am the shade of the moon was the combination of colours orange and red. Post 1 am the eclipse started fading and the colour gradually started to change back from red to shadowy black and then to bright white by 2.45 am.
According to the meteorological department next lunar eclipse will be visible from Auckland on 23/24 March in 2016 from midnight until early hours of the morning.
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