Bulgarians were treated to a rare phenomenon on Thursday evening when a partial lunar eclipse took place. Such an eclipse occurs when a portion of the moon passes through the Earth's umbral shadow.

The eclipse commences as the moon enters the penumbral shadow, but this shadow is so light that changes on the moon are barely noticeable until the Moon is about to enter the umbra.

Besides Bulgaria, the eclipse was also visible from many parts of the world including Western Australia, Asia, eastern Africa and Europe.

The partial phase began at 9.05 pm and ended just over an hour later, at 10.38 pm local time, with the moment of greatest eclipse at 9.51 pm.

During the eclipse, moon watchers were able to see a distinct shading near the right rim of the lunar's surface. The moon was not completely darkened, but less than 20% of its surface came under the shadow. The shading on the moon gradually faded away as the moon left the umbra and moved away from the penumbra.

The next lunar eclipse on March 4, 2007, will be also partial one and a full eclipse is expected on August 28, 2007, astronomers said.

Other upcoming major celestial phenomena will be the transit of Mercury in front of the Sun on November 9, this year.

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