BENGALURU: With the last lunar eclipse of the year occurring in the wee hours on Sunday, the Jawaharlal Nehru planetarium in the city has made special arrangements for public viewing of the phenomenon.
The blood moon will be visible tonight and the planetarium will allow visitors from midnight itself. The eclipse will occur in India between 11.31 pm today and 3.36 am tomorrow and can be viewed with the naked eye. No protective eyewear or other visual aids will be necessary, according to scientists at the planetarium.
In Bengaluru, only 6 per cent of the eclipse will be visible and the planetarium has made arrangement to view the phenomenon with binoculars and telescope. There will be no age bar or restriction on the number of visitors, the planetarium administration said.
Meanwhile, several major temples in Bengaluru will remain closed from today evening while some will be open in view of the lunar eclipse which will occur in Bengaluru between 1.05 am and 2.24 am on Sunday.
The Banashankari temple and the the Gavi Gangadhareshwara temples close at 3 pm today and will open at 4.30 am tomorrow. The Gali Anjaneya temple and the Kadu Malleshwara temple will close at 6 pm and 6 pm and 6.30 pm, respectively today and open at 6 am tomorrow. The Panchamukhi temple in Basavanagudi closed on 12 pm and will open at 6 am on Sunday.
The Dodda Ganapathi and the Annamma temple will remain open as usual while pujas and other rituals will be performed at the Bande Mahakali temple till10.30 pm after which the temple will close.
Elsewhere, the historical Narasimha Jharni (Jhira) temple in Bidar will close at 6 pm after daylong rituals and open tomorrow at 8 am. All the historical temples in Vijayanagara, including the Hampi Virupaksha temple, will also close at 6 pm and reopen tomorrow at usual.
Huligemma temple in Koppal will close at 7.30 pm and open tomorrow at 6 am. At Mantralaya, all activities have been advanced in the afternoon and darshan will be allowed till 8.30 pm.
The Nimishamba temple near Srirangapatna will also close at 6 pm today while Chamundeshwari temple atop Chamundi Hills will close at 6 after the Chamundi teppotsava.
The Kadri Manjunatheshwara, Dharmastala Manjunatheshwara temple, Kukke Subrahmanya will also close early today evening. In Kolar, all the major temples coming under the Hindu Religious Institutions & Charitable Endowments Department will close at 1 pm. Major temples in Ramanagara, Chitradurga and other places too will close early today.
There will be no mass feeding at Udupi Sri Krishna temple tonight while special rituals will be conducted during the eclipse at the Kollur Mookambika temple in Udupi district.