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The last total lunar eclipse of the year is set to take place on Tuesday, when the Earth blocks the Sun’s rays from reaching the Moon. Also known as the Blood Moon, the lunar eclipse will take place almost a year after the last total lunar eclipse, and viewers in North America, Central America, most of South America, the Pacific Ocean, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia will see the Moon darken and acquire a reddish hue on Tuesday. This will be the last total lunar eclipse until March 14, 2025.

How to watch the lunar eclipse

The Moon will traverse the northern half of Earth’s shadow, with totality predicted to last 86 minutes. Mid-eclipse happens on November 8th at 10:59 Universal Time (UT) or 4:29pm IST, around six days before apogee, when the Moon is farthest from Earth in its orbit. The actual clock times of the eclipse depend on your time zone.

You don’t need any equipment to observe a Blood Moon, but binoculars or a telescope can help enhance the view and the red colour of Earth’s only natural satellite.

You can also watch the lunar eclipse from the video embedded below

What to expect from the lunar eclipse

As a result, during the eclipse, the Moon will appear 7 percent smaller than it does when it’s at perigee (closest to Earth), but the difference is imperceptible. The eclipse on Tuesday will be a bit brighter than the one that occurred in May — especially in the Moon’s northern half — since the Moon doesn’t glide as close to the dark center of Earth’s shadow.

There are several delightful extras viewers can look out for while admiring the eclipse. During totality, Earth’s shadow dims the Moon sufficiently for stars to be visible right up to its edge. In addition, Uranus reaches opposition just a day after the eclipse, when it’s directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and at its closest and brightest.

And on eclipse night the distant planet will be upper left of the red-hued Moon — binoculars will reveal the planet’s pale disk. The farther west you are, the smaller the gap between planet and Moon. Also, the Northern and Southern Taurid meteor showers peak around this time, so eclipse-watchers might be treated to a few meteors streaking across the night sky.

All stages of the eclipse occur simultaneously for everyone, but not everyone will see the full eclipse. Weather permitting, observers in western North America will witness the entirety of the event on the morning of November 8, with the partial eclipse phase beginning an hour or so after midnight. In Hawai’i, the eclipsed Moon will be directly overhead. Viewers in the central parts of the continent will see all of totality and most of the final partial phases, while those on the East Coast can watch the Sun rise as totality ends.

South America will witness the initial phases of the eclipse up to totality, while Central America can enjoy the show a bit longer and see it through the total phase. The eclipse is an early evening event in central and eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, and the Moon rises either during the earlier partial phases or during totality.

What to observe during the lunar eclipse.

The Moon’s leading edge enters the pale outer fringe of Earth’s shadow: the penumbra. You are unlikely to notice anything until the Moon is about halfway across the penumbra.

  1. Watch for a slight darkening on the Moon’s left side as seen from North America. The penumbral shading becomes stronger as the Moon moves deeper in.
  2. The penumbra is the region where an astronaut standing on the Moon would see Earth covering only part of the Sun’s disc.
  3. The Moon’s leading edge enters the umbra, the cone of Earth’s shadow within which the Sun’s completely hidden. You should notice a dramatic darkening on the leading edge of the lunar disk. With a telescope, you can watch the edge of the umbra slowly engulfing one lunar feature after another, as the entire sky begins to grow darker.
  4. The trailing edge of the Moon slips into the umbra for the beginning of total eclipse. But the Moon won’t black out completely: It’s sure to glow some shade of intense orange or red.
  5. Why is this? The Earth’s atmosphere scatters and bends (refracts) sunlight that skims its edges, diverting some of it onto the eclipsed Moon. If you were on the Moon during a lunar eclipse, you’d see the Sun hidden by a dark Earth rimmed with the reddish light of all the sunrises and sunsets ringing the world at that moment.
  6. The red umbral glow can be quite different from one eclipse to the next. Two main factors affect its brightness and hue. The first is simply how deeply the Moon goes into the umbra as it passes through; the center of the umbra is darker than its edges. The other factor is the state of Earth’s atmosphere. If a major volcanic eruption has recently polluted the stratosphere with thin global haze, a lunar eclipse can be dark red, ashen brown, or occasionally almost black.
  7. In addition, blue light is refracted through Earth’s clear, ozone-rich upper atmosphere above the thicker layers that produce the red sunrise-sunset colors. This ozone-blue light tints the Moon also, especially near the umbra’s edge. You’ll need binoculars or a telescope to see this effect.
  8. As the Moon progresses along its orbit, events replay in reverse order. The Moon’s edge re-emerges into the sunlight, ending totality and beginning a partial eclipse again.
  9. When all of the Moon escapes the umbra, only the last, penumbral shading is left. Sometime later, nothing unusual remains.

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Dark Dwarfs: New Star-Like Objects May Reveal Nature of Dark Matter

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Dark Dwarfs: New Star-Like Objects May Reveal Nature of Dark Matter

Astronomers predict an unseen class of star-like bodies called “dark dwarfs” near our galaxy’s center. A new study suggests these objects could shine thanks to annihilating dark matter, not nuclear fusion. Dark matter makes up about a quarter of the universe and interacts via gravity. If WIMP-like dark matter particles collect in a brown dwarf, they would annihilate and heat it, causing a faint glow. Dark dwarfs would be too light to fuse hydrogen, but would keep lithium-7 in their atmospheres, offering a signature. This prediction comes from a JCAP study. The discovery of one could reveal dark matter’s nature.

Predicted Dark Dwarf Properties

According to the paper, sub-stellar objects just below the hydrogen-burning threshold would be powered by dark matter. The authors find that the minimum mass for hydrogen fusion shifts above ∼0.075 M⊙ in dense dark-matter environments, so lighter brown dwarfs instead become stable dark-matter–powered stars (‘dark dwarfs’) via WIMP annihilation inside them. They predict such objects only appear in regions with extremely high dark-matter density, like the Galactic center (ρ_DM ≳ 10^3 GeV/cm^3), because further out the halo is too tenuous. Crucially, dark dwarfs should retain lithium-7 in mass ranges where ordinary brown dwarfs burn it away, providing a clear observational signature.

Observational Prospects and Implications

Sakstein notes that powerful telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope might even already detect extremely cold objects like dark dwarfs near the galactic center. Alternatively, astronomers could survey brown dwarf populations for a rare sub-class with anomalous lithium content. Notably, even one confirmed dark dwarf would strongly favor heavy, self-annihilating dark matter.

Sakstein explains that finding dark dwarfs would provide “compelling evidence” for dark matter that is massive and interacts with itself – essentially WIMPs or similar particles. He notes that lighter candidates (like axions) would not produce such stars, so a dark dwarf discovery would disfavor those models. While not a proof of WIMPs, a dark dwarf detection would imply dark matter behaves like WIMPs (heavy and weakly interacting). Indeed, future surveys and JWST observations will also test these predictions.

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NASA Astronaut Captures Rare Red Sprite Over Storm from Space Station

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NASA Astronaut Captures Rare Red Sprite Over Storm from Space Station

In early July 2025, NASA astronaut Nichole “Vapor” Ayers snapped a rare image of a giant red “sprite” phenomenon erupting above a thunderstorm, as she orbited 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. Sprites are brief, luminous columns caused by powerful lightning discharges far below. Ayers noted that having the ISS vantage makes for a “great view above the clouds” and helps scientists analyze these elusive events. This sprite appeared over storm clouds spanning Mexico and the southern U.S. on July 3, 2025. The sighting coincides with NASA’s Spritacular citizen-science project, which crowdsources photos of sprites and other upper-atmosphere flashes.

Rare ‘Sprite’ Phenomenon Explained

According to NASA, sprites are one of the “least understood” and most visually striking upper-atmosphere phenomena. They are brief columns of red light that flash high above thunderclouds, triggered by powerful lightning strikes. Data show sprites often form around 50 miles (80 km) altitude above Earth. These fleeting bursts take varied shapes – tendrils, plumes or towering columns of red light.

In Ayers’s photo, the sprite looks like an inverted scarlet umbrella extending into the sky. Each sprite flash lasts only a few milliseconds, so every image provides valuable data. Observations from orbit and the ground are steadily building a clearer picture of these mysterious storm-driven events. For example, NASA’s Juno mission even recorded sprite-like flares in Jupiter’s atmosphere, suggesting similar lightning processes on other worlds.

Crowdsourcing Sprites

To gather more data on sprites, NASA launched the Spritacular citizen-science project. Through Spritacular, volunteers with cameras can submit photos of upper-atmosphere flashes for research. The project’s website reports over 800 volunteers from 21 countries have uploaded about 360 sprite sightings since its 2022 launch. Each contribution helps scientists map where and how sprites occur. Ayers’s ISS photo adds a valuable perspective that complements citizen reports.

Space.com notes that multiple ISS crew members have begun photographing sprites from orbit, bolstering the data. Spritacular principal investigator Dr. Burcu Kosar says the project “will bridge the gap” between casual observers and researchers. NASA scientists say many questions about how and why sprites form “remain unanswered”, so more images could soon help decode the mystery.

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Progress 92 Spacecraft Docks at ISS with Vital Supplies for Expedition 73

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Progress 92 Spacecraft Docks at ISS with Vital Supplies for Expedition 73

The progress of 92 spacecraft, which is unpiloted, reached the space-facing port of the Poisk of the orbiting laboratory at 2:55 a.m. IST on Sunday, July 5, 2025. At 5:25 p.m. EDT, Saturday, July 5, 2025, the spacecraft landed. The spacecraft launched a 1:02 a.m. IST on July 4, 2025, on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome. This spacecraft by Roscosmos is for providing tons of food, fuel and other supplies for the Expedition 73 crew on the International Space Station.

Six-Month Docking to Aid Research and Waste Management on ISS

As reported by NASA, it will be there on the dock for around six months before its departure and re-entry into the atmosphere of the Earth to dispose of the trash that the crew has loaded. This spacecraft includes a wide variety of essential items for astronomers. Apart from food and fuel, there are some equipment and spare parts also which are needed by the astronauts. Such items help the astronauts to perform their daily activities and conduct the planned experiments in space. It would be very difficult to maintain the life support and let the operations continue without any hampering.

Progress 92 Delivers Crucial Supplies to Support Expedition 73

Dr. Natalia Sergeyevna, the Roscosmos scientist, said in a statement that this successful docking portrays our strength in the continuous support to the ISS for the successful completion of Expedition 73. Every cargo mission is crucial and needs to ensure safety, health, and productivity. NASA praised the mission, calling the Progress Cargo deliveries a key part of keeping long-duration space missions going in a smooth manner.

Along with the everyday needs, the cargo also carried the materials for research related to health, plant growth, space materials and fluid dynamics. Scientists can better understand how living and working in space impacts their bodies and the milieu.

Progress 92 will stay docked at the ISS for about six months. After the work, the spacecraft will undock and make its re-entry into the atmosphere of the Earth and burn up safely. Cargo missions not just supply but also manage waste, keeping the ISS efficient and clean.

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