Total Lunar Eclipse May 6, 2069 | |
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![]() The Moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals. | |
Series (and member) | 132 (33 of 71) |
Gamma | 0.272 |
Magnitude | 1.327 |
Duration (hr:mn:sc) | |
Totality | 01:24:16 |
Partial | 03:46:11 |
Penumbral | 06:08:07 |
Contacts | |
P1 | 06:03:38 UTC |
U1 | 07:14:38 UTC |
U2 | 08:25:35 UTC |
Greatest | 09:07:43 UTC |
U3 | 09:49:42 UTC |
U4 | 11:00:49 UTC |
P4 | 12:11:45 UTC |
![]() The eclipse occurs in the constellation Libra at the ascending node of the moon's orbit. |
A total lunar eclipse will take place on May 6, 2069. The eclipse will be a dark one with the southern tip of the Moon passing through the center of the Earth's shadow. This is the first central eclipse of Saros series 132.
It is the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2069, the second occurring at the descending node of the Moon's orbit will be on October 30, which will also be a central total eclipse.
It is the third of an almost tetrad, the others being 17 May 2068 (P), 9 Nov 2068 (T) and 30 October 2069 (T).
Visibility
[edit]The eclipse will be visible after sunset over Australia and begin before sunset over far eastern Asia, and be seen in the predawn hours over western North and South America.
![]() This simulated view of the Earth from the center of the Moon during greatest eclipse show where the eclipse will be visible on Earth. |
The Moon will also occult the bright star Alpha Librae as seen from the southern hemisphere a few hours before greatest eclipse.[1]
Related lunar eclipses
[edit]Lunar eclipses are related by many different eclipse cycles. The Saros cycle (18 years and 10 days) repeats the most consistently due three coinciding periods, and continue over 70 events (1200+ years). Eclipses are identified by a Saros number and a member index within each series.
The lunar year (354 days) and Metonic cycles (19 years) are short period last only 8 to 10 events. The Metonic cycle is equal to one Saros cycle plus one lunar year, and so the two series progress in parallel.
The Inex cycle (29 years minus 20 days) can last tens of thousands of years, so long that long perturbations in the Moon's path must be taken into account for prediction. Also the eclipse qualities are less inconsistent because the Moon is at different significantly positions in its elliptical orbit in sequential events. Similarly for the shorter Tritos cycle (10 years and 31 days), repeats less consistently for the same reason.
Lunar year series
[edit]This eclipse is the third of four lunar year eclipses occurring at the Moon's ascending node.
The lunar year series repeats after 12 lunations or 354 days (Shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, the Earth's shadow will be about 11 degrees west in sequential events.
Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saros | Date Viewing |
Type Chart |
Saros | Date Viewing |
Type Chart | |
112 | 2067 May 28![]() |
Penumbral![]() |
117 | 2067 Nov 21![]() |
Penumbral![]() | |
122 | 2068 May 17![]() |
Partial![]() |
127 | 2068 Nov 09![]() |
Total![]() | |
132 | 2069 May 06![]() |
Total![]() |
137 | 2069 Oct 30![]() |
Total![]() | |
142 | 2070 Apr 25![]() |
Penumbral![]() |
147 | 2070 Oct 19![]() |
Partial![]() |
Metonic series
[edit]The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.
This series has 9 events centered on May 6th and October 30th: (saros number)
Ascending node | Descending node |
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|
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Saros series
[edit]Lunar saros series 132, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 44 umbral lunar eclipses (32 partial lunar eclipses and 12 total lunar eclipses).
Greatest | First | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2123 Jun 9, lasting 106 minutes.[2] |
Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
1492 May 12![]() |
1636 Aug 16![]() |
2015 Apr 4![]() |
2069 May 6![]() | |
Last | ||||
Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
2177 Jul 11![]() |
2213 Aug 2![]() |
2429 Dec 11![]() |
2754 Jun 26![]() |
There are 11 series events between 1901 and 2100, grouped into threes (called an exeligmos), each column with approximately the same viewing longitude on earth.
1907 Jan 29 | 1925 Feb 8 | 1943 Feb 20 | |||
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1961 Mar 2 | 1979 Mar 13 | 1997 Mar 24 | |||
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2015 Apr 4 | 2033 Apr 14 | 2051 Apr 26 | |||
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2069 May 6 | 2087 May 17 | ||||
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Tritos series
[edit]The tritos series repeats 31 days short of 11 years at alternating nodes. Sequential events have incremental Saros cycle indices.
This series produces 20 total eclipses between April 24, 1967 and August 11, 2185, only being partial on November 19, 2021.
Tritos eclipse series (subset 1901–2087) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
Saros | Date Viewing |
Type chart |
Saros | Date Viewing |
Type chart | |
115 | 1901 Oct 27![]() |
Partial![]() |
116 | 1912 Sep 26![]() |
Partial![]() | |
117 | 1923 Aug 26![]() |
Partial![]() |
118 | 1934 Jul 26![]() |
Partial![]() | |
119 | 1945 Jun 25![]() |
Partial![]() |
120 | 1956 May 24![]() |
Partial![]() | |
121 | 1967 Apr 24![]() |
Total![]() |
122 | 1978 Mar 24![]() |
Total![]() | |
123 | 1989 Feb 20![]() |
Total![]() |
124 | 2000 Jan 21![]() |
Total![]() | |
125 | 2010 Dec 21![]() |
Total![]() |
126 | 2021 Nov 19![]() |
Partial![]() | |
127 | 2032 Oct 18![]() |
Total![]() |
128 | 2043 Sep 19![]() |
Total![]() | |
129 | 2054 Aug 18![]() |
Total![]() |
130 | 2065 Jul 17![]() |
Total![]() | |
131 | 2076 Jun 17![]() |
Total![]() |
132 | 2087 May 17![]() |
Total![]() | |
133 | 2098 Apr 15![]() |
Total![]() |
Inex series
[edit]The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.
This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 39.
All events in this series listed below and more are total lunar eclipses.
Ascending node | Descending node | Ascending node | Descending node | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saros | Date | Saros | Date | Saros | Date | Saros | Date |
96 | 1027 Apr 23 | 97 | 1056 Apr 2 | 98 | 1085 Mar 14 | 99 | 1114 Feb 21 |
100 | 1143 Feb 1 | 101 | 1172 Jan 13 | 102 | 1200 Dec 22 | 103 | 1229 Dec 2 |
104 | 1258 Nov 12 | 105 | 1287 Oct 22 | 106 | 1316 Oct 2 | 107 | 1345 Sep 12 |
108 | 1374 Aug 22 | 109 | 1403 Aug 2 | 110 | 1432 Jul 13 | 111 | 1461 Jun 22 |
112 | 1490 Jun 2 | 113 | 1519 May 14 | 114 | 1548 Apr 22 | 115 | 1577 Apr 2 |
116 | 1606 Mar 24 | 117 | 1635 Mar 3 | 118 | 1664 Feb 11 | 119 | 1693 Jan 22 |
120 | 1722 Jan 2 | 121 | 1750 Dec 13 | 122 | 1779 Nov 23 | 123 | 1808 Nov 3 |
124 | 1837 Oct 13 | 125 | 1866 Sep 24 | 126 | 1895 Sep 4 | 127 | 1924 Aug 14 |
128 | 1953 Jul 26![]() |
129 | 1982 Jul 6![]() |
130 | 2011 Jun 15![]() |
131 | 2040 May 26![]() |
132 | 2069 May 6![]() |
133 | 2098 Apr 15![]() |
134 | 2127 Mar 28 | 135 | 2156 Mar 7 |
136 | 2185 Feb 14 | 137 | 2214 Jan 27 | 138 | 2243 Jan 7 | 139 | 2271 Dec 17 |
140 | 2300 Nov 27 | 141 | 2329 Nov 7 | 142 | 2358 Oct 18 | 143 | 2387 Sep 28 |
144 | 2416 Sep 7 | 145 | 2445 Aug 17 | 146 | 2474 Jul 29 |
Half-Saros cycle
[edit]A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[3] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 139.
April 30, 2060 | May 11, 2078 |
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See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Jean Meeus, G. P. Konnen, "Occultations of Bright Stars by the Eclipsed Moon", Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Vol. 85, No. 1, pp. 17-24 (1974).
- ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 132
- ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
External links
[edit]References
[edit]- Bao-Lin Liu, Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1500 B.C.-A.D. 3000, 1992