Varanasi, Sept. 8 -- Devotees in Varanasi took a holy dip in the River Ganga and offered prayers on Monday morning, following the total lunar eclipse that occurred the previous night.

The total lunar eclipse commenced at 8:58 pm and lasted until 2:25 am across India.

A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to darken. This alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the Earth's orbital plane.

This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth between the other two, which can happen only on the night of a full moon whe...