A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, June 17, 2076,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.7959. It will be a central lunar eclipse, in which part of the Moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth'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 a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night 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's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 1.9 days before perigee (on June 18, 2076, at 20:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.[2]

While the visual effect of a total eclipse is variable, the Moon may be stained a deep orange or red color at maximum eclipse. With a gamma value of only −0.0452 and an umbral eclipse magnitude of 1.7959, this is the second greatest eclipse in Saros series 131 as well as the largest and darkest lunar eclipse between June 26, 2029 and June 28, 2094. Overall, it will be the third largest and darkest lunar eclipse of the 21st century. While it will have similar values to the lunar eclipse of July 16, 2000, totality will not last over 106 minutes due to the moon's relatively large apparent size as seen from Earth and greater speed in its elliptical orbit.

NGC 6401 will be occulted by the Moon during the eclipse over Eastern North America, Cuba, the Atlantic Ocean, Southeast Europe and the northern half of Africa.[3]: 160 

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over South America, west Africa, and Antarctica, seen rising over North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean and setting over Europe, west and south Asia, and central and east Africa.[4]

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[5]

June 17, 2076 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Penumbral Magnitude 2.75698
Umbral Magnitude 1.79585
Gamma −0.04518
Sun Right Ascension 05h46m08.2s
Sun Declination +23°23'27.6"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'44.6"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7"
Moon Right Ascension 17h46m06.8s
Moon Declination -23°26'09.4"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'22.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°00'07.0"
ΔT 104.8 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse 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 a fortnight. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.

Eclipse season of June–July 2076
June 1
Ascending node (new moon)
June 17
Descending node (full moon)
July 1
Ascending node (new moon)
Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 119
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 131
Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 157

Eclipses in 2076

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Lunar Saros 131

Inex

Triad

Lunar eclipses of 2074–2078

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[6]

The penumbral lunar eclipses on February 11, 2074 and August 7, 2074 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipses on April 27, 2078 and October 21, 2078 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2074 to 2078
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Gamma Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Gamma
111 2074 Jul 08
Penumbral
1.4456 116 2075 Jan 02
Penumbral
−1.1642
121 2075 Jun 28
Partial
0.6897 126 2075 Dec 22
Partial
−0.4945
131 2076 Jun 17
Total
−0.0452 136 2076 Dec 10
Total
0.2102
141 2077 Jun 06
Partial
−0.8387 146 2077 Nov 29
Partial
0.8854
156 2078 Nov 19
Penumbral
1.5147

Saros 131

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 10, 1427. It contains partial eclipses from July 25, 1553 through March 22, 1932; total eclipses from April 2, 1950 through September 3, 2202; and a second set of partial eclipses from September 13, 2220 through April 9, 2563. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on July 7, 2707.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 38 at 100 minutes, 36 seconds on June 28, 2094. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[7]

Greatest First

The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2094 Jun 28, lasting 100 minutes, 36 seconds.[8]
Penumbral Partial Total Central
1427 May 10
1553 Jul 25
1950 Apr 02
2022 May 16
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
2148 Jul 31
2202 Sep 03
2563 Apr 09
2707 Jul 07

Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

Tritos series

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic 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
1803 Aug 03
(Saros 106)
1814 Jul 02
(Saros 107)
1825 Jun 01
(Saros 108)
1836 May 01
(Saros 109)
1847 Mar 31
(Saros 110)
1858 Feb 27
(Saros 111)
1869 Jan 28
(Saros 112)
1879 Dec 28
(Saros 113)
1890 Nov 26
(Saros 114)
1901 Oct 27
(Saros 115)
1912 Sep 26
(Saros 116)
1923 Aug 26
(Saros 117)
1934 Jul 26
(Saros 118)
1945 Jun 25
(Saros 119)
1956 May 24
(Saros 120)
1967 Apr 24
(Saros 121)
1978 Mar 24
(Saros 122)
1989 Feb 20
(Saros 123)
2000 Jan 21
(Saros 124)
2010 Dec 21
(Saros 125)
2021 Nov 19
(Saros 126)
2032 Oct 18
(Saros 127)
2043 Sep 19
(Saros 128)
2054 Aug 18
(Saros 129)
2065 Jul 17
(Saros 130)
2076 Jun 17
(Saros 131)
2087 May 17
(Saros 132)
2098 Apr 15
(Saros 133)
2109 Mar 17
(Saros 134)
2120 Feb 14
(Saros 135)
2131 Jan 13
(Saros 136)
2141 Dec 13
(Saros 137)
2152 Nov 12
(Saros 138)
2163 Oct 12
(Saros 139)
2174 Sep 11
(Saros 140)
2185 Aug 11
(Saros 141)
2196 Jul 10
(Saros 142)

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[9] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 138.

June 11, 2067 June 22, 2085

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "June 16–17, 2076 Total Lunar Eclipse (Blood Moon)". timeanddate. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  3. ^ Meeus, Jan (2002). "Occultations of deep-sky objects during a total lunar eclipse". More Mathematical Astronomy Morsels (PDF). pp. 157–162. ISBN 0943396743.
  4. ^ "Total Lunar Eclipse of 2076 Jun 17" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  5. ^ "Total Lunar Eclipse of 2076 Jun 17". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
  6. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  7. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Lunar Eclipses of Saros 131". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  8. ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 131
  9. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
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