Longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years on Nov 19, to be visible from India
Kolkata(PTI): The longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years will occur on November 19 and will be visible from parts of Northeast India, an astrophysicist said on Saturday.
The rare phenomenon will be visible from a few areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, Director of Research and Academic at MP Birla Planetarium Debiprosad Duari told PTI.
The partial eclipse will start at 12.48 pm and end at 4.17 pm, he said.
The duration of the eclipse will be 3 hours 28 minutes and 24 seconds, making it the longest in 580 years, Duari said.
"A few areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam will experience the last fleeting moments of the partial eclipse just after the moonrise, very close to the eastern horizon," he explained.
The last time a partial lunar eclipse of such length occurred was on February 18, 1440, and the next time a similar phenomenon can be witnessed will be on February 8, 2669, he said.
The maximum partial eclipse will be visible at 2.34 pm as 97 per cent of the moon will be covered by the Earth's shadow.
The moon is likely to appear blood-red in colour, which happens when the red beams of the sunlight pass through the Earth's atmosphere and get least deflected and fall on the moon.
The partial Lunar eclipse will be visible from North America, South America, eastern Asia, Australia and the Pacific region.
The penumbral eclipse, which occurs when the sun, earth, and the moon are imperfectly aligned, will begin at 11.32 am and end at 5.33 pm, Duari said.
The penumbral eclipse will be visible from UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha but it can be seen only briefly from these places, he said.
A penumbral eclipse is not as spectacular and dramatic as the partial eclipse and sometimes does not even get noticed, he said.
The last lunar eclipse was on July 27, 2018. The next lunar eclipse will be on May 16, 2022, but it will not be visible from India, Duari said.
The next lunar eclipse to be visible from India will be on November 8, 2022.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
