Black supermoon to take place on 31 July but it will not be visible in India

There will be a supermoon unlike any other that will take place today. It is a black supermoon and is basically going to be invisible in the night sky. A black moon is a name given to the second new moon that takes place in one month. A new moon is the first phase of the lunar phases and takes place when the moon and the sun have the same ecliptic longitude. During this phase, the moon is not visible to the eye and occurs when the sun’s light falls on the far side of the moon we don’t see. When there is a second full moon in a month, it is called a blue moon. Since it is rare, the phrase ‘Once in a blue moon’ has come about.

The moon’s orbit around the earth is not a perfect circle but more of an elliptical. What makes this event even more interesting is that the black moon will take place when the moon is closest to the earth, during its orbit. This is called the perigee-syzygy or as we commonly call it a supermoon. This event will only be visible (or rather not visible) in the western hemisphere which includes the Americas, Canada, and a few other counties. For the Eastern Hemisphere which is Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, the new moon will take place after midnight on the calendar date of 1 August 2019. This new moon will not be the second one in the calendar month, but the first. Hence it will not qualify as a Black Moon, and these places will have to wait until the end of the next month for theirs.