Kazakhstan residents witnessed full lunar eclipse on December 10

Kazakhstan residents could see a rare astronomic event, full lunar eclipse on December 10, Interfax-Kazakhstan reports citing the head of the Moon and planets physics laboratory of Fessenkov Astrophysics Institute Viktor Teifel. According to Teifel, the Moon got into half-shade of the Earth in about half an hour after it rose (for Almaty residents) and almost at the uprise for residents of Western Kazakhstan. The Moon's getting into half-shade was almost unnoticeable and only at 6:30 p.m. (Astana time) small dimming of the Moon was seen. The shade of the Earth started covering the Eastern side of the Moon at 6:45 p.m., he said. The most interesting happened after 8:06 p.m., when the Moon was fully into the Earth’s shade and turned dark-red, the scientist noted. According to Teifel, compared to the last full eclipse, when the Moon passed directly through the center of the Earth’s shade, this time it was moving through its southern part of the shade, that’s why the full phase was be a bit shorter. “The Moon will start getting out of the shade at 8:57 p.m. and partial eclipse will finish at 10:28 p.m.,” he said. The scientist said that there were no reasons to worry about any consequences of the eclipse. “It has an effect only on the Moon: the temperature sharply goes down on its surface. The surface has low thermal conductivity and cools down very quickly. There is no need to believe in all sorts of astrological forecasts, as astrologists like to ascribe some magical and mystical features to rare events,” he said.