October 2014 lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipse 8 October 2014
From Lomita, California, 10:55 UTC
Ecliptic north up The Moon passes right to left (west to east) through Earth's shadow
Saros (and member)	127 (42 of 72)
Gamma	0.3826
Magnitude	1.1724
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality	0:58:50
Partial	3:19:31
Penumbral	5:18:03
Contacts (UTC)
P1	8:15:36
U1	9:14:48
U2	10:25:09
Greatest	10:54:35
U3	11:23:59
U4	12:34:19
P4	13:33:39

A total lunar eclipse took place on 8 October 2014. It is the second of two total lunar eclipses in 2014, and the second in a tetrad (four total lunar eclipses in series). Other eclipses in the tetrad are those of 15 April 2014, 4 April 2015, and 28 September 2015. Occurring only 2.1 days after perigee (Perigee on 6 October 2014), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger, 1960.6 arcseconds (32 arcminutes, 40.6 arcseconds).

This is the 42nd member of Lunar Saros 127. The previous event is the September 1996 lunar eclipse. The next event is October 2032 lunar eclipse.

Visibility and appearance[]

NASA chart of the eclipse

The eclipse was visible in its entirety over the Northern Pacific. Viewers in North America experienced the eclipse after midnight on Wednesday, 8 October, and the eclipse was visible from the Western Pacific, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and Eastern Asia after sunset on the evening of 8 October. Many areas of North America experienced a selenelion, able to see both the sun and the eclipsed moon at the same time.^[1]

Simulation of Earth from the Moon.
Visibility

Background[]

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (shadow). As the eclipse begins, the Earth's shadow first darkens the Moon slightly. Then, the shadow begins to "cover" part of the Moon, turning it a dark red-brown color (typically - 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 refraction of that light by the Earth's atmosphere into its umbra.^[2] The following simulation shows the approximate appearance of the Moon passing through the earth's shadow. The Moon's brightness is exaggerated within the umbral shadow. The southern portion of the Moon was closest to the center of the shadow, making it darkest, and most red in appearance.

Animation October 8 2014 lunar eclipse appearance.gif

The planet Uranus was near opposition (opposition on 7 October^[3]) during the eclipse, just over 1° from the eclipsed Moon. Shining at magnitude 5.7, Uranus should have been bright enough to identify in binoculars. Due to parallax, the position of Uranus relative to the Moon varied significantly depending on the viewing position on the surface of Earth.

Gallery[]

Composite from Aichi prefecture, Japan	Composite from Coralville, IA, first contact to the greatest.	Selenelion from Minneapolis, MN, with a partially eclipsed moon still up after sunrise, 12:26 UTC, seen by sunlight on foreground trees, right.

Minneapolis, MN, 9:46 UTC, triple exposure
Before the beginning of total eclipse, Valdosta, GA, 10:02 UTC
Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 10:26 UTC
California, 10:39 UTC
Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 10:41 UTC
The eclipse with Uranus in Minneapolis, 10:46 UTC
After the end of total eclipse, Santa Clara County, CA, 11:28 UTC
Partial phase of the eclipse, Hefei, China, 12:18 UTC
Minneapolis, MN, 12:24 UTC

Timing[]

Local times of contacts
Time zone adjustments from UTC		+8_h	+11_h	+13_h	-9_h	-8_h	-7_h	-6_h	-5_h	-4_h	-3_h
Time zone adjustments from UTC		AWST	AEDT	NZDT	HADT	AKDT	PDT	MDT	CDT PET	EDT BOT	ADT AMST ART
Event		Evening 8 October			Evening 7 October		Morning 8 October
P1	Penumbral begins	N/A†	7:16 pm	9:16 pm	11:16 pm	12:16 am	1:16 am	2:16 am	3:16 am	4:16 am	5:16 am
U1	Partial begins	N/A†	8:15 pm	10:15 pm	12:15 am	1:15 am	2:15 am	3:15 am	4:15 am	5:15 am	6:15 am
U2	Total begins	6:25 pm	9:25 pm	11:25 pm	1:25 am	2:25 am	3:25 am	4:25 am	5:25 am	6:25 am	7:25 am
	Greatest eclipse	6:55 pm	9:55 pm	11:55 pm	1:55 am	2:55 am	3:55 am	4:55 am	5:55 am	6:55 am	Set
U3	Total ends	7:24 pm	10:24 pm	12:24 am	2:24 am	3:24 am	4:24 am	5:24 am	6:24 am	Set	Set
U4	Partial ends	8:34 pm	11:34 pm	1:34 am	3:34 am	4:34 am	5:34 am	6:34 am	Set	Set	Set
P4	Penumbral ends	9:34 pm	12:34 am	2:34 am	4:34 am	5:34 am	6:34 am	Set	Set	Set	Set

† The Moon was not visible during this part of the eclipse in this time zone.

Contact points relative to the earth's umbral and penumbral shadows, here with the moon near is descending node

The timing of total lunar eclipses are determined by its contacts:^[4]

P1 (First contact): Beginning of the penumbral eclipse. Earth's penumbra touches the Moon's outer limb.
U1 (Second contact): Beginning of the partial eclipse. Earth's umbra touches the Moon's outer limb.
U2 (Third contact): Beginning of the total eclipse. The Moon's surface is entirely within Earth's umbra.
Greatest eclipse: The peak stage of the total eclipse. The Moon is at its closest to the center of Earth's umbra.
U3 (Fourth contact): End of the total eclipse. The Moon's outer limb exits Earth's umbra.
U4 (Fifth contact): End of the partial eclipse. Earth's umbra leaves the Moon's surface.
P4 (Sixth contact): End of the penumbral eclipse. Earth's penumbra no longer makes contact with the Moon.

Related eclipses[]

Eclipses of 2014[]

A total lunar eclipse on 15 April.
A non-central annular solar eclipse on 29 April.
A total lunar eclipse on 8 October.
A partial solar eclipse on 23 October.

The eclipse is the one of four total lunar eclipses in a short-lived series at the descending node of the Moon's orbit.

The lunar year series repeats after 12 lunations, or 354 days (shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, Earth's shadow will be about 11° west in sequential events.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2013–2016
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Viewing date	Type	Gamma	Saros	Viewing date	Type	Gamma
112	2013 Apr 25	Partial	-1.0121	117	2013 Oct 18	Penumbral	1.1508
122	2014 Apr 15	Total	-0.3017	127	2014 Oct 08	Total	0.3827
132	2015 Apr 04	Total	0.4460	137	2015 Sep 28	Total	-0.3296
142	2016 Mar 23	Penumbral	1.1592	147	2016 Sep 16	Penumbral	-1.0549

Last set	2013 May 25			Last set	2012 Nov 28

Next set	2017 Feb 11			Next set	2016 Aug 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).^[5] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of solar saros 134.

3 October 2005	14 October 2023

Saros series[]

Lunar saros series 127, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 72 lunar eclipse events including 54 umbral lunar eclipses (38 partial lunar eclipses and 16 total lunar eclipses). Solar Saros 134 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1888 Jul 23, lasting 102 minutes.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1275 Jul 09	1473 Nov 04	1798 May 29	1834 Jun 21
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	1960 Sep 05	2068 Nov 09	2429 Jun 17	2555 Sep 02

1901–2100
		1942 Aug 26

1960 Sep 05	1978 Sep 16	1996 Sep 27

2014 Oct 08	2032 Oct 18	2050 Oct 30

References[]

^ Boyle, Alan (7 October 2014). "Lunar Eclipse Provides an Extra Twist for Skywatchers: Selenelion". NBC News. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
^ Fred Espenak & Jean Meeus. "Visual Appearance of Lunar Eclipses". NASA. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Clarke, Kevin. "On the nature of eclipses". Inconstant Moon. Cyclopedia Selenica. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros

2014 Oct 08 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
Wake Up to October 8th's Total Lunar Eclipse (SkyandTelescope.com)
Hermit eclipse: 2014-10-08
Total Lunar Eclipse, October 2014 InfoSite - Mattastro
Animation of the October 8 2014 eclipse at shadowandsubstance.com

[selenelion-1] Boyle, Alan (7 October 2014). "Lunar Eclipse Provides an Extra Twist for Skywatchers: Selenelion". NBC News. Retrieved 8 October 2014.

[2] Fred Espenak & Jean Meeus. "Visual Appearance of Lunar Eclipses". NASA. Retrieved 13 April 2014.

[3] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[4] Clarke, Kevin. "On the nature of eclipses". Inconstant Moon. Cyclopedia Selenica. Retrieved 19 December 2010.

[5] Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros

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