| Total eclipse | |||||||||||||||||
_(43696968392)_(cropped).jpg) Totality as viewed fromOria, Italy, 21:09 UTC | |||||||||||||||||
| Date | July 27, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | 0.1168 | ||||||||||||||||
| Magnitude | 1.6100 | ||||||||||||||||
| Saros cycle | 129 (38 of 71) | ||||||||||||||||
| Totality | 102 minutes, 57 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Partiality | 234 minutes, 33 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Penumbral | 373 minutes, 48 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
A totallunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit on Friday, July 27, 2018,[1] with an umbralmagnitude of 1.6100. It was acentral lunar eclipse, in which part of theMoon passed through thecenter of theEarth's shadow. A lunar eclipse occurs when theMoon moves into theEarth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike asolar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on thenight side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon'sshadow is smaller. Occurring about 19 hours afterapogee (on July 27, 2018, at 1:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]
This was the firstcentral lunar eclipse sinceJune 15, 2011. It was also the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century, but not the longest in the 3rd millennium.[3] Totality lasted one hour and 42.955 minutes,[4][5][6][7] a period "just short of the theoretical limit of a lunar eclipse (one hour and 46.605 minutes)".[8] The Moon remained at least partially in Earth's shadow for three hours 54.55 minutes.[8] The longest total lunar eclipse of the 3rd millennium will occur on May 12, 2264, lasting 106 minutes and 13.2 seconds, which will be the longest total lunar eclipse since 2000, and the longest one until 3107.
The eclipse occurred when the Moon was near its maximum distance from Earth, which caused the Moon to appear smaller than normal (a phenomenon sometimes called a micromoon),[9][10] and to travel at its slowest speed in its orbit around Earth.[3]
This lunar eclipse coincided with Marsbeing nearly as close as possible to Earth, a concurrence that happens once every 25,000 years.[6]
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth'sumbra (shadow). As the eclipse begins, Earth's shadow first darkens the Moon slightly. Then, the Earth's shadow begins to cover part of the Moon, typically turning it a dark red-brown color (the color can vary based on atmospheric conditions). The Moon appears to be reddish because ofRayleigh scattering (the same effect that causes sunsets to appear reddish and the daytime sky to appear blue) and the refraction of that light by Earth's atmosphere into its umbra.[11]
The Moon's brightness is exaggerated within the umbral shadow.[11] The southern portion of the Moon was closest to the center of the shadow, making it the darkest, and most red in appearance.[citation needed]
The eclipse was completely visible overeast Africa,southern Africa,south andcentral Asia, seen rising overSouth America,west Africa, andEurope, and setting overeast Asia andAustralia.[12][13]
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 Visibility map |
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Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[14]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Penumbral Magnitude | 2.68050 |
| Umbral Magnitude | 1.60996 |
| Gamma | 0.11681 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 08h28m22.0s |
| Sun Declination | +19°04'25.2" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'45.0" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 20h28m18.2s |
| Moon Declination | -18°58'10.6" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'42.7" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°53'59.7" |
| ΔT | 68.9 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by afortnight. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by onesynodic month.
| July 13 Ascending node (new moon) | July 27 Descending node (full moon) | August 11 Ascending node (new moon) |
|---|---|---|
 | |  |
| Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 117 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 129 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 155 |
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This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[15]
The penumbral lunar eclipses onMarch 23, 2016 andSeptember 16, 2016 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipses onJune 5, 2020 andNovember 30, 2020 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Lunar eclipse series sets from 2016 to 2020 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||||
| Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | |
| 109 | 2016 Aug 18 | Penumbral | 1.5641 | 114 | 2017 Feb 11 | Penumbral | −1.0255 | |
119 | 2017 Aug 07 | Partial | 0.8669 | 124 | 2018 Jan 31 | Total | −0.3014 | |
| 129 | 2018 Jul 27 | Total | 0.1168 | 134_(cropped).jpg) | 2019 Jan 21 | Total | 0.3684 | |
139 | 2019 Jul 16 | Partial | −0.6430 | 144 | 2020 Jan 10 | Penumbral | 1.0727 | |
| 149 | 2020 Jul 05 | Penumbral | −1.3639 | |||||
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 10, 1351. It contains partial eclipses from September 26, 1531 through May 11, 1892; total eclipses fromMay 24, 1910 throughSeptember 8, 2090; and a second set of partial eclipses from September 20, 2108 through April 26, 2469. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on July 24, 2613.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 106 minutes, 24 seconds onJuly 16, 2000. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[16]
| Greatest | First | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on2000 Jul 16, lasting 106 minutes, 24 seconds.[17] | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| 1351 Jun 10 | 1531 Sep 26 | 1910 May 24 | 1946 Jun 14 | |
| Last | ||||
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
2036 Aug 07 | 2090 Sep 08 | 2469 Apr 26 | 2613 Jul 24 | |
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
| Series members 26–48 occur between 1801 and 2200: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 27 | 28 | |||
| 1802 Mar 19 | 1820 Mar 29 | 1838 Apr 10 | |||
| 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
| 1856 Apr 20 | 1874 May 01 | 1892 May 11 | |||
| 32 | 33 | 34 | |||
| 1910 May 24 | 1928 Jun 03 | 1946 Jun 14 | |||
|  |  |  | |  |
| 35 | 36 | 37 | |||
| 1964 Jun 25 | 1982 Jul 06 | 2000 Jul 16 | |||
 |  |  |  | |  |
| 38 | 39 | 40 | |||
| 2018 Jul 27 | 2036 Aug 07 | 2054 Aug 18 | |||
| | |  |  |  |
| 41 | 42 | 43 | |||
| 2072 Aug 28 | 2090 Sep 08 | 2108 Sep 20 | |||
 |  | |  | ||
| 44 | 45 | 46 | |||
| 2126 Oct 01 | 2144 Oct 11 | 2162 Oct 23 | |||
| 47 | 48 | ||||
| 2180 Nov 02 | 2198 Nov 13 | ||||
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1811 Mar 10 (Saros 110) | 1822 Feb 06 (Saros 111) | 1833 Jan 06 (Saros 112) | 1843 Dec 07 (Saros 113) | 1854 Nov 04 (Saros 114) | |||||
| 1865 Oct 04 (Saros 115) | 1876 Sep 03 (Saros 116) | 1887 Aug 03 (Saros 117) | 1898 Jul 03 (Saros 118) | 1909 Jun 04 (Saros 119) | |||||
 |  | ||||||||
| 1920 May 03 (Saros 120) | 1931 Apr 02 (Saros 121) | 1942 Mar 03 (Saros 122) | 1953 Jan 29 (Saros 123) | 1963 Dec 30 (Saros 124) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1974 Nov 29 (Saros 125) | 1985 Oct 28 (Saros 126) | 1996 Sep 27 (Saros 127) | 2007 Aug 28 (Saros 128) | 2018 Jul 27 (Saros 129) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | | |
| 2029 Jun 26 (Saros 130) | 2040 May 26 (Saros 131) | 2051 Apr 26 (Saros 132) | 2062 Mar 25 (Saros 133) | 2073 Feb 22 (Saros 134) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  | ||||
| 2084 Jan 22 (Saros 135) | 2094 Dec 21 (Saros 136) | 2105 Nov 21 (Saros 137) | 2116 Oct 21 (Saros 138) | 2127 Sep 20 (Saros 139) | |||||
 |  |  |  | ||||||
| 2138 Aug 20 (Saros 140) | 2149 Jul 20 (Saros 141) | 2160 Jun 18 (Saros 142) | 2171 May 19 (Saros 143) | 2182 Apr 18 (Saros 144) | |||||
| 2193 Mar 17 (Saros 145) | |||||||||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1815 Dec 16 (Saros 122) | 1844 Nov 24 (Saros 123) | 1873 Nov 04 (Saros 124) | |||
| 1902 Oct 17 (Saros 125) | 1931 Sep 26 (Saros 126) | 1960 Sep 05 (Saros 127) | |||
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1989 Aug 17 (Saros 128) | 2018 Jul 27 (Saros 129) | 2047 Jul 07 (Saros 130) | |||
 |  | | |  |  |
| 2076 Jun 17 (Saros 131) | 2105 May 28 (Saros 132) | 2134 May 08 (Saros 133) | |||
 |  | ||||
| 2163 Apr 19 (Saros 134) | 2192 Mar 28 (Saros 135) | ||||
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (ahalf saros).[18] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses ofSolar Saros 136.
| July 22, 2009 | August 22, 2027 |
|---|---|
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