May 1985 lunar eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse May 4, 1985
(No photo)
The moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals.
Series	121 (54 of 84)
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality
Partial
Penumbral
Contacts
P1	UTC
U1
U2
Greatest
U3
U4
P4

A total lunar eclipse took place on May 4, 1985, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 1985, the second being on October 28, 1985.^[1]

This lunar eclipse is first of a tetrad, four total lunar eclipses in series. The last series was in 1967 and 1968, starting with an April 1967 lunar eclipse, while the next was in 2003 and 2004, starting with a May 2003 lunar eclipse.

Visibility[]

It is seen rising over the whole of Africa, Middle East, Europe and Asia. The eclipse was sighted over the Philippines at night. The second also followed on October 28, 1985.

Related eclipses[]

Eclipses of 1985[]

A total lunar eclipse on May 4.
A partial solar eclipse on May 19.
A total lunar eclipse on October 28.
A total solar eclipse on November 12.

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

Metonic series[]

This eclipse is the second of four Metonic cycle lunar eclipses on the same date, May 4–5, 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 in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Metonic events: May 4 and October 28
Descending node	Ascending node
1966 May 4 - Penumbral (111) 1985 May 4 - Total (121) 2004 May 4 - Total (131) 2023 May 5 - Penumbral (141)	1966 Oct 29 - Penumbral (116) 1985 Oct 28 - Total (126) 2004 Oct 28 - Total (136) 2023 Oct 28 - Partial (146) 2042 Oct 28 - Penumbral (156)

Saros series[]

It is a member of Saros cycle 121.

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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 128.