December 2009 lunar eclipse

Partial Lunar Eclipse 31 December 2009
Munster, Ireland, 19:43 UT
The southern edge of the moon will be completely darken as the moon passes through the Earth's umbral shadow
Series (and member)	115 (57 of 72)
Gamma	0.9765
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Partial	0:59:58
Penumbral	4:11:03
Contacts (UTC)
P1	17:17:08
U1	18:52:43
Greatest	19:22:39
U4	19:52:41
P4	21:28:11
The moon's hourly motion across the Earth's shadow in the constellation of Gemini

A partial lunar eclipse was visible on 31 December 2009. It was the last and largest of four minor lunar eclipses in 2009. This lunar eclipse is also notable, because it occurred during a blue moon (a second full moon in December). The next eclipse on New Year's Eve and blue moon will occur on 31 December 2028.

Only a small portion of the Moon entered the Earth's umbral shadow, but there was a distinct darkening visible over the Moon's southern surface at greatest eclipse.

Visibility[]

NASA chart of the eclipse

It was visible from all of Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Australia. In the Philippines, the lunar eclipse was started last 1 January 2010, when it was very visible at mid-dawn until before sunrise.

This simulation shows the view of the earth as viewed from the center of the moon at greatest eclipse. The partially eclipsed sun is visible above the north pole.

Map[]

Photos[]

Progression from Degania A, Israel

Sheffield, England, 19:14 UTC
Qingdao, China, 19:16 UTC
Laguja, Estonia, 19:21 UTC
Beijing, China
At maximum, 19:22 UTC
Tokyo, Japan, 19:32 UTC
Chennai, India, 19:33 UTC
Barcelona, Spain, 19:34 UTC
Athens, Greece, 19:34 UTC
Helsinki, Finland, 19:47 UTC
Nonthaburi, Thailand, 19:59 UTC
Belfort, France
Combined images

Related eclipses[]

Eclipses of 2009[]

An annular solar eclipse on 26 January.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on 9 February.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on 7 July.
A total solar eclipse on 22 July.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on 6 August.
A partial lunar eclipse on 31 December.

Lunar year (354 days)[]

This eclipse is the one of four lunar eclipses in a short-lived series. 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.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2009–2013
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros # Photo	Date Viewing	Type chart	Gamma	Saros # Photo	Date Viewing	Type chart	Gamma
110	2009 Jul 07	penumbral	-1.4916	115	2009 Dec 31	partial	0.9766
120	2010 Jun 26	partial	-0.7091	125	2010 Dec 21	total	0.3214
130	2011 Jun 15	total	0.0897	135	2011 Dec 10	total	-0.3882
140	2012 Jun 04	partial	0.8248	145	2012 Nov 28	penumbral	-1.0869
150	2013 May 25	penumbral	1.5351

Last set	2009 Aug 06			Last set	2009 Feb 9

Next set	2013 Apr 25			Next set	2013 Oct 18

Half-Saros cycle[]

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[1] This lunar eclipse is related to two partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 122.

25 December 2000	6 January 2019

References[]

^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros

External links[]

2009 Dec 31 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
Hermit eclipse: 2009-12-31
[1] Eclipse enthusiasts in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia can celebrate New Year's Eve by observing a partial lunar eclipse on December 31, 2009. The event's duration will be about four hours.