Penumbral Lunar Eclipse to Take Place This Week -- Facts on the Last Eclipse of 2016

A Penumbral Lunar Eclipse will take place on Sept. 16/17 and it will be visible in Pakistan. The lunar eclipse is also the last eclipse of 2016.

A penumbral lunar eclipse is different from a solar eclipse, the most commonly sighted eclipse on Earth. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the moon swiftly passes through the dimmer, fainter outer part of the Earth's shadow. Because of its nature, it can be mistaken as a full moon.

The moon typically reflects the Sun's ray, but during a lunar eclipse, the Earth is strategically positioned in between the Sun and the Moon that blocks the sunlight from reaching the moon.

In a penumbral lunar eclipse the Sun, moon and Earth are in a straight alignment. During this time, the Earth will block some of the Sun's ray from reaching the moon's surface and cover parts of the moon with its shadows. The Sun covering the moon with its outer shadow is called "penumbra," this is where the name penumbral lunar eclipse was derived, according to Time and Date.

This year's penumbral lunar eclipse will be visible in most regions of Pakistan and in some parts of Africa, Europe and Asia starting at 09:55 pm on Sept. 16. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) is closely monitoring the last eclipse of the year. The agency said that the eclipse would last for three hours until Sept. 17 at 01:54 am.

However, PMD advised that the weather might be an obstruction but there were identified areas where the skies will be clear during the eclipse including Balochistan, Upper Punjab, Sind, South Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

According to NASA, the eclipse will last for exactly three hours, 59 minutes and 16 seconds. A detailed world map showing where the eclipse will be visible can be seen on NASA's eclipse information website under the Goddard Space Flight Center.