July 2018 lunar eclipse

July 2018 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	Oria, Italy at 21:09 UTC, end of totality
Date	27 July 2018
Gamma	0.1168
Magnitude	1.6087
Saros cycle	129 (38 of 71)
Totality	102 minutes, 57 seconds
Partiality	234 minutes, 33 seconds
Penumbral	373 minutes, 48 seconds
P1
showContacts (UTC)
P1	17:14:49
U1	18:24:27
U2	19:30:15
Greatest	20:21:44
U3	21:13:12
U4	22:19:00
P4	23:28:37
	← January 2018 January 2019 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node on 27 July 2018. The Moon passed through the center of Earth's shadow in what was the first central lunar eclipse since 15 June 2011. It was also the second total lunar eclipse in 2018, after the one on 31 January. It was the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century, but not the longest in the 3rd millennium. The longest total lunar eclipse of the 3rd millennium will occur on May 12, 2264, lasting 106 minutes and 13.2 seconds.

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),^[1]^[2] and to travel at its slowest speed in its orbit around Earth.^[3] This was the longest total lunar eclipse that will occur in 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 four hours.^[8]

This lunar eclipse coincided with Mars being nearly as close as possible to Earth, a concurrence that happens once every 25,000 years.^[6]

A total lunar eclipse occurred on July 27, 2018. This was the longest total lunar eclipse exclusively in the 21st century, but 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.

Background[]

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (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 of Rayleigh 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.^[9]

The Moon's brightness is exaggerated within the umbral shadow.^[9] 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]}

Animation showing the approximate appearance of the Moon passing through Earth's shadow

Visibility[]

Wide angle view of the total lunar eclipse and Mars in Melbourne, Australia

The lunar eclipse was completely visible over Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, Southern Asia and Central Asia, seen rising over South America, Western Africa, and Europe, and setting over Eastern Asia, and Australia.^[10]


Visibility map

Observations[]

Animation of the eclipse from Athens, Greece
Play media

Video of the eclipse from Yekaterinburg, Russia
Nanjing, China, 18:25 UTC
Asunción, Paraguay 19:10 UTC
Rethymnon, Greece 19:14 UTC
Johannesburg, South Africa, 19:16 UTC
Guangzhou, China, 19:20 UTC
Limassol, Cyprus, 19:27 UTC
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 19:32 UTC
Jerusalem, Israel, 19:33 UTC
Eclipse with Mars, Fukuoka, Japan, 19:46 UTC
Cracow, Poland, 20:05 UTC
Chelsea, Victoria, Australia, 20:07 UTC
Maximum from Banjarmasin, Indonesia, 20:21 UTC
Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, 20:47 UTC
Huittinen, Finland, 21:05 UTC
Graz, Austria, 21:12 UTC
Toulouse, France, 21:17 UTC
Berlin, Germany, 21:19 UTC
Torino, Italy, 21:19 UTC
Hamburg, Germany, 21:23 UTC
Brastad, Sweden, 21:24 UTC
León, Spain, 21:27 UTC

Related eclipses[]

Eclipses of 2018[]

Lunar year series[]

showLunar eclipse series sets from 2016–2020
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type Viewing	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	2019 Jan 21	Total	0.3684
139	2019 Jul 16	Partial	-0.6430	144	2020 Jan 10	Penumbral	1.2406
149	2020 Jul 05	Penumbral	-1.3639

Last set	2016 Sep 16			Last set	2016 Mar 23

Next set	2020 Jun 05			Next set	2020 Nov 30

Saros series[]

Lunar saros series 129, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, containing 71 events, has 11 total lunar eclipses. The first total lunar eclipse of this series was on May 24, 1910, and last will be on September 8, 2090. The two longest occurrence of this series were on July 6, 1982 and July 16, 2000 when totality lasted 106 minutes.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 2000 Jul 16, lasting 106 minutes.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1351 Jun 10	1513 Sep 15	1910 May 24	1946 Jun 14
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2036 Aug 7	2090 Sep 8	2469 Apr 26	2613 Jul 24

1901–2100
1910 May 24	1928 Jun 3	1946 Jun 14

1964 Jun 25	1982 Jul 6	2000 Jul 16

2018 Jul 27	2036 Aug 7	2054 Aug 18

2072 Aug 28	2090 Sep 8

It last occurred on July 16, 2000 and will next occur on August 7, 2036.

This is the 38th member of Lunar Saros 129. The previous event was the July 2000 lunar eclipse. The next event is the August 2036 lunar eclipse. Lunar Saros 129 contains 11 total lunar eclipses between 1910 and 2090. Solar Saros 136 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Half-Saros cycle[]

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[11] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 136.