Moon Eclipses Partially over Cairo, Continents across Globe

On Friday evening, June 5, the globe witnessed the second phenomenon of the eclipse in the year 2020.

A lunar eclipse took place as the moon doesn't cross the dark part of the earths shadow. But the moon crosses through the outer part dimmed periphery so its disk remains fully lit.

Last night eclipse could not be seen with the naked eye but it could be observed through telescopes in Egypt and the Arab region. This phenomenon was also seen in regions where the moon appears as the eclipse occurs.

The regions including the continent of Europe except for most of the northern part of it, continent of Asia except northern and eastern Russia, and the continent of Australia, and the continent Africa, eastern and southern South America, western Pacific, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Antarctica.

All stages of the eclipse from its inception until the end of took a period of approximately three hours and eighteen minutes. It began at approximately seven and forty-six minutes and its end at approximately eleven and four minutes.

At the height of the eclipse, it obscures approximately 57% of the semi-shadow region of the earth.

Dr. Gad Al-Qadi, head of the National Institute of Astronomical Research, revealed that a team of researchers at the National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research monitored this phenomenon and it was broadcast online on the Institute's page, due to the precautionary measures to limit the spread of the Coronavirus.

The phenomenon of lunar eclipse is useful for ascertaining the beginnings of the Hijri months, as the lunar eclipse occurs in a corresponding position, when it is a full moon in the middle of the Hijri month.

The moon places then at one of the ascending or descending nodes resulting from the intersection of the moons orbit level with the level of the suns orbit (the zodiac).

Dr. Ashraf Tadros, the former head of the Astronomy Department at the National Institute for Astronomical Research, revealed that the full moon of the month of Shawwal which appears in the sky of Egypt and the Arab world now, is a moon known by the Indian American tribes as the strawberry full moon.