| Total eclipse | |||||||||||||||||
 The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left | |||||||||||||||||
| Date | September 16, 1978 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | 0.2951 | ||||||||||||||||
| Magnitude | 1.3268 | ||||||||||||||||
| Saros cycle | 127 (40 of 72) | ||||||||||||||||
| Totality | 78 minutes, 39 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Partiality | 207 minutes, 10 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Penumbral | 323 minutes, 50 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
A totallunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit on Saturday, September 16, 1978,[1] with an umbralmagnitude of 1.3268. 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 2.4 days afterperigee (on September 14, 1978, at 10:35 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
The eclipse was completely visible overeast Africa,eastern Europe, much ofAsia, and westernAustralia, seen rising over easternSouth America,western Europe, andwest andcentral Africa and setting overnortheast Asia and central and eastern Australia.[3]
 |
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Penumbral Magnitude | 2.30598 |
| Umbral Magnitude | 1.32683 |
| Gamma | 0.29510 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 11h36m19.9s |
| Sun Declination | +02°33'33.2" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'54.7" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 23h35m58.5s |
| Moon Declination | -02°16'47.0" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'15.0" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°59'38.4" |
| ΔT | 49.3 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.
| September 16 Descending node (full moon) | October 2 Ascending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 127 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 153 |
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.[5]
The penumbral lunar eclipse onJuly 27, 1980 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Lunar eclipse series sets from 1977 to 1980 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||||
| Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | |
| 112 | 1977 Apr 04 | Partial | −0.9148 | 117 | 1977 Sep 27 | Penumbral | 1.0768 | |
| 122 | 1978 Mar 24 | Total | −0.2140 | 127 | 1978 Sep 16 | Total | 0.2951 | |
| 132 | 1979 Mar 13 | Partial | 0.5254 | 137 | 1979 Sep 06 | Total | −0.4305 | |
| 142 | 1980 Mar 01 | Penumbral | 1.2270 | 147 | 1980 Aug 26 | Penumbral | −1.1608 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on July 9, 1275. It contains partial eclipses from November 4, 1473 through May 18, 1780; total eclipses from May 29, 1798 throughNovember 9, 2068; and a second set of partial eclipses fromNovember 20, 2086 through June 17, 2429. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on September 2, 2555.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 46 seconds on July 23, 1888. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[6]
| Greatest | First | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on1888 Jul 23, lasting 101 minutes, 46 seconds.[7] | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| 1275 Jul 09 | 1473 Nov 04 | 1798 May 29 | 1834 Jun 21 | |
| Last | ||||
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
1960 Sep 05 | 2068 Nov 09 | 2429 Jun 17 | 2555 Sep 02 | |
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 31–52 occur between 1801 and 2200: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 32 | 33 | |||
| 1816 Jun 10 | 1834 Jun 21 | 1852 Jul 01 | |||
| 34 | 35 | 36 | |||
| 1870 Jul 12 | 1888 Jul 23 | 1906 Aug 04 | |||
 |  | ||||
| 37 | 38 | 39 | |||
| 1924 Aug 14 | 1942 Aug 26 | 1960 Sep 05 | |||
 |  |  |  | |  |
| 40 | 41 | 42 | |||
| 1978 Sep 16 | 1996 Sep 27 | 2014 Oct 08 | |||
| |  |  |  |  |
| 43 | 44 | 45 | |||
| 2032 Oct 18 | 2050 Oct 30 | 2068 Nov 09 | |||
 |  |  |  | |  |
| 46 | 47 | 48 | |||
| 2086 Nov 20 | 2104 Dec 02 | 2122 Dec 13 | |||
| 49 | 50 | 51 | |||
| 2140 Dec 23 | 2159 Jan 04 | 2177 Jan 14 | |||
| 52 | |||||
| 2195 Jan 26 | |||||
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 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1804 Jan 26 (Saros 111) | 1814 Dec 26 (Saros 112) | 1825 Nov 25 (Saros 113) | 1836 Oct 24 (Saros 114) | 1847 Sep 24 (Saros 115) | |||||
| 1858 Aug 24 (Saros 116) | 1869 Jul 23 (Saros 117) | 1880 Jun 22 (Saros 118) | 1891 May 23 (Saros 119) | 1902 Apr 22 (Saros 120) | |||||
 |  | ||||||||
| 1913 Mar 22 (Saros 121) | 1924 Feb 20 (Saros 122) | 1935 Jan 19 (Saros 123) | 1945 Dec 19 (Saros 124) | 1956 Nov 18 (Saros 125) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1967 Oct 18 (Saros 126) | 1978 Sep 16 (Saros 127) | 1989 Aug 17 (Saros 128) | 2000 Jul 16 (Saros 129) | 2011 Jun 15 (Saros 130) | |||||
 |  | | |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 2022 May 16 (Saros 131) | 2033 Apr 14 (Saros 132) | 2044 Mar 13 (Saros 133) | 2055 Feb 11 (Saros 134) | 2066 Jan 11 (Saros 135) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 2076 Dec 10 (Saros 136) | 2087 Nov 10 (Saros 137) | 2098 Oct 10 (Saros 138) | 2109 Sep 09 (Saros 139) | 2120 Aug 09 (Saros 140) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  | ||||
| 2131 Jul 10 (Saros 141) | 2142 Jun 08 (Saros 142) | 2153 May 08 (Saros 143) | 2164 Apr 07 (Saros 144) | 2175 Mar 07 (Saros 145) | |||||
| 2186 Feb 04 (Saros 146) | 2197 Jan 04 (Saros 147) | ||||||||
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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1805 Jan 15 (Saros 121) | 1833 Dec 26 (Saros 122) | 1862 Dec 06 (Saros 123) | |||
| 1891 Nov 16 (Saros 124) | 1920 Oct 27 (Saros 125) | 1949 Oct 07 (Saros 126) | |||
 |  |  |  | ||
| 1978 Sep 16 (Saros 127) | 2007 Aug 28 (Saros 128) | 2036 Aug 07 (Saros 129) | |||
| |  |  |  |  |
| 2065 Jul 17 (Saros 130) | 2094 Jun 28 (Saros 131) | 2123 Jun 09 (Saros 132) | |||
 |  |  |  |  | |
| 2152 May 18 (Saros 133) | 2181 Apr 29 (Saros 134) | ||||
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (ahalf saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses ofSolar Saros 134.
| September 11, 1969 | September 23, 1987 |
|---|---|
 |  |
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