Uttarakhand's Badrinath, Kedarnath temples to close at 4 pm on Saturday due to lunar eclipse

Pic/AFP

All temples under the Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee, including the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines, will close at 4 pm on Saturday due to the lunar eclipse, reported news agency PTI.

Temple Committee chairman Ajendra Ajay said on Friday that the lunar eclipse will start at 01:04 pm on October 28 and the 'Sutak' (inauspicious time) period will begin nine hours before that, reported PTI.

So, the doors of Badrinath, Kedarnath and all other temples will be closed at 4 pm, he said, reported PTI.

The Badrinath and Kedarnath temples will open in the 'brahma muhurta' after the morning purification puja on Sunday, he said, reported PTI.

The other shrines that will be closed include Shri Narasingh Temple in Joshimath, Second Kedar Madmaheshwar, Third Kedar Tungnath, Shri Omkareshwar Temple in Ukhimath and Yoga Badri Pandukeshwar, reported PTI.

The Lunar Eclipse, also known as Chandra Grahan in India, is set to occur on October 28, 2023. From a scientific perspective, a Lunar Eclipse occurs during a full moon when the Earth positions itself between the Sun and the Moon, resulting in the alignment of all three celestial bodies. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the entire moon is enveloped within the Earth's umbral shadow, while a partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the moon falls under the Earth's shadow.

The partial lunar eclipse is scheduled to commence on Saturday, October 28, and extend into Sunday, October 29.

According to Press Information Bureau (PIB), a partial lunar eclipse will occur on October 28-29, 2023 (6-7 Kartika, 1945 Saka Era). Though the Moon will enter penumbra at midnight on October 28, the umbral phase will start in the early hours of October 29. The Eclipse will be visible from all places of India around midnight. The eclipse will be visible in the region covering the Western Pacific Ocean, Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa, eastern South America, northeastern North America, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean.

In India, the eclipse will commence at around 11:31 PM. By approximately 1:05 AM on Sunday (Indian Standard Time - IST), the darker portion of the Earth's shadow, known as the umbra, will envelop the lunar surface. The lunar eclipse on Sunday, October 29, will start at 1:05 AM and conclude at 2:24 AM.

The last lunar eclipse which was visible from India was on November 8, 2022, and it was a total eclipse.

(With inputs from PTI)