CHENNAI: After the suspense of nearly two hours, the blood moon finally came out of the cloud cover around 7.40 pm on Wednesday evening in the city and enthralled thousands of enthusiasts and sky gazers who thronged city beaches and climbed rooftops to witness the rare celestial event.
People thronged the beaches to catch a glimpse of the celestial trifecta event. Thiruvanmiyur beach was full of people on Wednesday evening as Tamil Nadu Science Forum arranged for the viewing with telescopes, binoculars and a tea party to dispel superstitions that one should not eat or drink during the lunar eclipse.
The moon passed the earth at the distance of 3,64,507 km and appeared little bigger and brighter than the normal full moon. Arul Raj from Kottivakkam who visited the Thiruvanmiyur beach with his family to witness the event said he was thrilled by the triple treat, a blue moon, a supermoon and total lunar eclipse. “The moon was brighter and bigger. It looked spectacular through the telescope at the total eclipse,” he said.
V. Shyamala who works as an assistant professor at Loyola College had gone to the beach from Nungambakkam.
“The beaches are full of people. The moon was not reddish, it looked dark orange. It’s a rare opportunity witness the event as the last event had occurred 152 years ago”, she said.
She also said she could not take her eyes off the moon which looked so stunning.
“Though the moon rise has started at 6.04 pm, we could not see the lunar eclipse due to the cloud cover. The reddish moon finally made an appearance in the Chennai skies at around 7.45 pm and the eclipse lasted till 8.41 pm as expected”, said S.Soundararaja Perumal, joint director, Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre. Due to the rareness of the event, there was enormous interest among the students, enthusiasts and the general public. The Birla Planatorium alone had around 5,000 visitors on Wednesday evening. The next such event will occur on December 31, 2028.
