May 1984 lunar eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on May 15, 1984. This was a deep penumbral eclipse, with the southern limb of the Moon close to the Earth's shadow.

This was the first eclipse of 1984 (first of three penumbral lunar eclipses). The second occurred on June 13th, and the third occurred on November 8th.^[1]

Visibility[]

Related eclipses[]

Eclipses of 1984[]

A penumbral lunar eclipse on May 15.
An annular solar eclipse on May 30.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 13.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 8.
A total solar eclipse on November 22.

Lunar year series[]

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1984–1987
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
111	1984 May 15	Penumbral	1.11308	116	1984 Nov 08	Penumbral	-1.08998
121	1985 May 04	Total	0.35197	126	1985 Oct 28	Total	-0.40218
131	1986 Apr 24	Total	-0.36826	136	1986 Oct 17	Total	0.31887
141	1987 Apr 14	Penumbral	-1.13641	146	1987 Oct 07	Penumbral	1.01890

Last set	1984 Jun 13			Last set	1983 Dec 20

Next set	1988 Mar 03			Next set	1988 Aug 27

Saros series[]

Lunar Saros 111, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 11 total lunar eclipses. The first total lunar eclipse of this series was on , and last was on . The longest occurrence of this series was on when the totality lasted 106 minutes.

Metonic series[]

This eclipse is the first of four Metonic cycle lunar eclipses on the same date, May 15–16, each separated by 19 years.

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 be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

1984 May 15.19 - penumbral (111) 2003 May 16.15 - total (121) 2022 May 16.17 - total (131) 2041 May 16.03 - penumbral (141)	1984 Nov 08.75 - penumbral (116) 2003 Nov 09.05 - total (126) 2022 Nov 08.46 - total (136) 2041 Nov 08.19 - partial (146) 2060 Nov 08.17 - penumbral (156)

Half-Saros cycle[]

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[2] This lunar eclipse is related to two partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 118.