LOC13:49
10:49 GMT
KUWAIT, Dec 4 (KUNA) -- A total lunar eclipse is to occur Saturday December
10, 2011, and would be visible in Kuwait after sunrise, said Kuwaiti
meteorologists Adel Al-Saadoun and Msaed Al-Hammad on Sunday.
Al-Saadoun told KUNA the eclipse would start with moor rise at 4:45 p.m.
and last till 8:00 p.m. It is not a central eclipse and we would see some
sunlight on the bottom side, and this would be the last eclipse this year. The
year 2011 witnessed four solar eclipses and one lunar eclipses, Saturday's
being the second.
A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth comes between the Moon and the Sun,
blocking sunrays, and the moon comes to pass the Earth's shadow. This
phenomenon happens in the middle of the month on the lunar calendar when the
moon is at its fullest.
Meanwhile, Director of the Merzam Observatory meteorologist Msaed Al-Hammad
said the eclipsed moon rises after sunset Saturday evening, and ends when the
moon completely passes Earth's shadow at 7:18 p.m. Eshaa prayer thus takes
place within the duration of the eclipse.
The first stages of the phenomena are not fully visible with the naked eye,
though people would be able to discern a change in the moon's brightness, he
said, but the total eclipse could be seen without need for telescope or
special camera.
Except for changes affecting water bodies on Earth, lunar eclipses have no
direct impact on humans circumstance, he said.
"Eclipses are the best proof of accuracy of our meteorological calculations
today, as there had never been a miscalculation regarding this phenomenon in
the modern era."(end)
mf.na.wsa
KUNA 041349 Dec 11NNNN