New year dawns with Lunar Eclipse:

Partial lunar eclipse today

There will be a partial lunar eclipse on today December 31 (full moon day) visible to Sri Lanka and to the regions covering Alaska, Australia, Indonesia, India, South Africa, Europe including the British Isles and the Arctic regions.

The eclipse begins by 10.47 p.m. tonight with the moon entering into the penumbra of the earth's shadow (less dark shadow), but the dimming on the moonlight at this phase may not be noticeable to the naked eye. However, the eclipse will be clearly visible to the naked eye observers from 22 minutes pass the midnight (12.22 a.m.), soon after the dawn of the new year 2010. At that time the moon enters into the Umbra the dark part of the earth's shadow. The eclipse will be visible till the moon leaves the Umbra at 1.23 a.m. on January 01, 2010.

The middle of the eclipse takes place at 12.53 a.m. on 1st morning. The eclipse ends at 2.58 a.m. on January 01, 2010 with the moon leaving the penumbra of the earth shadow. There is no harm of observing lunar eclipses with naked eyes, said Senior Lecturer in Physics, University of Colombo and Consultant to the Space Applications Division of the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, Dr. Chandana Jayaratne.