Lunar eclipse coming Sunday night, though it might be hard to see

The celestial bodies are coming together for an event this weekend, and the clouds of Portland may be blocking it from view. One such celestial event, a lunar eclipse which will be seen on Novemeber 30 shall be a strong one.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth's shadow falls over the Moon, and only occurs on a full moon when the Sun, Earth and Moon all come together.

There are three types of lunar eclipses - total, partial, and penumbral.

The eclipse is expected to begin at 11:32 pm on Sunday, reach a maximum eclipse at 1:42 am on Saturday and end at 3:53 am timeanddate.com. It will be the second lunar eclipse visible in OR this year, following a previous penumbral eclipse in July. The fourth lunar eclipse 2020 is coinciding with the auspicious day of Kartik Purnima.

Two more lunar eclipses will be visible in the Pacific Northwest over the next year.

Every eclipse has a Sutak period during which it is suggested to chant the mantras and do meditation. However, residents living in the eastern states of the country like West Bengal, Bihar, Uttarakhand and eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh may get some visibility of the event. This leads to a part of the lunar surface getting darkened which is termed as the lunar eclipse.

NASA says the eclipse should be visible around 4.30 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) early Monday morning. The lunar eclipse will be below the horizon in several major cities, including Delhi and Mumbai. On the other hand, many countries situated in the European continent, Australia, North America, South America and countries situated on the Pacific and Atlantic coast will be witness to the fourth and last lunar penumbral eclipse of the year.

The nickname "beaver moon" comes from Algonquin Native American tribes and American colonists, who gave nicknames to each full moon based on weather conditions, farming routines and hunting trends at that time of the year. Certain signs can expect to see life-altering changes take place, while some may find peace and clarity they have been looking for long.

The beaver moon - nicknamed such because this is the time of year when beavers build their winter dams in preparation for the cold winter - will reach its fullest phase Monday morning, November 30, at 4:30 a.m. The solar eclipse is expected to happen on December 14.