India will witness a total lunar eclipse around 11pm on Sunday, the first such event in nearly three years.

The moon will begin to enter earth’s shadow at around 10pm, gradually progressing into a total eclipse by 11pm, when it will appear copper red, a phenomenon popularly known as the Blood Moon, said astrophysicist Debiprosad Duari.

“The total eclipse of the moon will continue till 12.22am. The penumbral eclipse will start around 9pm in India, but at that time, the brightness of the moon will marginally diminish and the eclipse will not be discernible to a naked eye,” Duari, the former director of MP Birla Planetarium, said.

“By 9.57pm, the moon will start getting partially eclipsed progressively and around 11pm the eclipse will be total, when moon will be completely under the shadow of the earth,” he said.

Duari said after 12.22am, the moon will re-enter the partial eclipse phase, which will gradually decrease over time and ultimately the moon will be “blazing with it’s pearly white light” by 1.26am on September 8.

The lunar eclipse on September 7 will be visible from Asia, Africa, Australia and parts of Europe.

During the phenomenon the moon will gradually be engulfed by the earth’s shadow, taking on a copper reddish colour, for one hour and 22 minutes.

Duari explained that moon is not becoming blood colour but appears as one.

“The moon looks reddish because of the atmospheric refraction of the sunlight and the red part of the light falling almost on the moon and the blue part getting scattered,” said Duari.

But it might not appear to be reddish from India.

“One has to note that from India the moon will be eclipsed around midnight, when it is high above the horizon, and hence the blood colour effect will be less compared to other places on the globe where the total eclipse will be observed near moonrise or moon set,” said Duari.

“The redness of an eclipsed moon becomes prominent, when the moon is near the horizon and the moonlight has to pass through a larger part of the atmosphere thereby accentuating the red orange colouration of the moon under the shadow of the earth,” he said.

The next total lunar eclipse will occur on December 31, 2028.