New Delhi, Dec. 9: Astro lovers from across the country will have luxury to watch total lunar eclipse on Dec 10, last of the year 2011, in clear winter night. The shadow of the Earth will fall on the Moon for almost five hours, making eclipse a great celestial event for astro lovers.

The Dec 10 lunar eclipse will begin at 5.02 p.m. and ends at 11.02 p.m. The maximum eclipse will be observed at 20:01:50 IST. The noticeable Umbra phase begins at 6.15 p.m. and ends at 9.48 p.m. The total phase begins at 7.36 p.m. and ends at 8.28 p.m. The entire event will last for nearly five hours.

New Delhi based Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree told TOI that the total lunar eclipse with the Moon immersed deeply inside the umbral (darker) shadow of the Earth will occur on Dec 10.

C B Devgun from Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) said, “The entire event is visible from Asia and Australia. Observers throughout Europe and Africa will miss the early eclipse phases because they occur before moon rise. It will also not be visible from South America or Antarctica.”

It will be the longest (at 52 mins) eclipse till the year 2018, N Raghunandan Kumar of Planetary Society of India said. Lunar eclipse of this nature will be observed next time on July 27-28, 2018 in and around India.