May 2069 lunar eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse
May 6, 2069

The Moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals.
Series (and member) 132 (33 of 71)
Gamma 0.272
Magnitude 1.327
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality 01:24:16
Partial 03:46:11
Penumbral 06:08:07
Contacts
P1 06:03:38 UTC
U1 07:14:38 UTC
U2 08:25:35 UTC
Greatest 09:07:43 UTC
U3 09:49:42 UTC
U4 11:00:49 UTC
P4 12:11:45 UTC

The eclipse occurs in the constellation Libra at the ascending node of the moon's orbit.

A total lunar eclipse will take place on May 6, 2069. The eclipse will be dark, with the southern tip of the Moon passing through the center of the Earth's shadow. This is the first central eclipse of Saros series 132.

It is the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2069, the second occurring at the descending node of the Moon's orbit will be on October 30, which will also be a central total eclipse.

It is the third of an almost tetrad, the others being 17 May 2068 (P), 9 Nov 2068 (T) and 30 October 2069 (T).

Visibility

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The eclipse will be visible after sunset over Australia and begin before sunset over far eastern Asia, and be seen in the predawn hours over western North and South America.

 
This simulated view of the Earth from the center of the Moon during greatest eclipse show where the eclipse will be visible on Earth.

The Moon will also occult the bright star Alpha Librae as seen from the southern hemisphere a few hours before greatest eclipse.[1]

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Lunar eclipses are related by many different eclipse cycles. The Saros cycle (18 years and 10 days) repeats the most consistently due three coinciding periods, and continue over 70 events (1200+ years). Eclipses are identified by a Saros number and a member index within each series.

The lunar year (354 days) and Metonic cycles (19 years) are short period last only 8 to 10 events. The Metonic cycle is equal to one Saros cycle plus one lunar year, and so the two series progress in parallel.

The Inex cycle (29 years minus 20 days) can last tens of thousands of years, so long that long perturbations in the Moon's path must be taken into account for prediction. Also the eclipse qualities are less inconsistent because the Moon is at different significantly positions in its elliptical orbit in sequential events. Similarly for the shorter Tritos cycle (10 years and 31 days), repeats less consistently for the same reason.

Lunar year series

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This eclipse is the third of four lunar year eclipses occurring at the Moon's ascending node.

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 2067-2070
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
112 2067 May 28
 
Penumbral
 
117 2067 Nov 21
 
Penumbral
 
122 2068 May 17
 
Partial
 
127 2068 Nov 09
 
Total
 
132 2069 May 06
 
Total
 
137 2069 Oct 30
 
Total
 
142 2070 Apr 25
 
Penumbral
 
147 2070 Oct 19
 
Partial
 

Metonic series

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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.

This series has 9 events centered on May 6th and October 30th: (saros number)

Ascending node Descending node
  1. 2031 May 07.160 - penumbral (112)
  2. 2050 May 06.937 - total (122)
  3. 2069 May 06.380 - total (132)
  4. 2088 May 05.677 - partial (142)
  5. 2107 May 07.186 - penumbral (152)
  1. 2031 Oct 30.323 - penumbral (117)
  2. 2050 Oct 30.139 - total (127)
  3. 2069 Oct 30.148 - total (137)
  4. 2088 Oct 30.125 - partial (147)

Saros series

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Lunar saros series 132, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 44 umbral lunar eclipses (32 partial lunar eclipses and 12 total lunar eclipses).

Greatest First
 
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2123 Jun 9, lasting 106 minutes.[2]
Penumbral Partial Total Central
1492 May 12
 
1636 Aug 16
 
2015 Apr 4
 
2069 May 6
 
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
2177 Jul 11
 
2213 Aug 2
 
2429 Dec 11
 
2754 Jun 26
 

There are 11 series events between 1901 and 2100, grouped into threes (called an exeligmos), each column with approximately the same viewing longitude on earth.

1901–2100
1907 Jan 29 1925 Feb 8 1943 Feb 20
           
1961 Mar 2 1979 Mar 13 1997 Mar 24
           
2015 Apr 4 2033 Apr 14 2051 Apr 26
           
2069 May 6 2087 May 17
       

Tritos series

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The tritos series repeats 31 days short of 11 years at alternating nodes. Sequential events have incremental Saros cycle indices.

This series produces 20 total eclipses between April 24, 1967 and August 11, 2185, only being partial on November 19, 2021.

Tritos eclipse series (subset 1901–2087)
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
chart
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
chart
115 1901 Oct 27
 
Partial
 
116 1912 Sep 26
 
Partial
 
117 1923 Aug 26
 
Partial
 
118 1934 Jul 26
 
Partial
 
119 1945 Jun 25
 
Partial
 
120 1956 May 24
 
Partial
 
121 1967 Apr 24
 
Total
 
122 1978 Mar 24
 
Total
 
123 1989 Feb 20
 
Total
 
124 2000 Jan 21
 
Total
 
125 2010 Dec 21
 
Total
 
126 2021 Nov 19
 
Partial
 
127 2032 Oct 18
 
Total
 
128 2043 Sep 19
 
Total
 
129 2054 Aug 18
 
Total
 
130 2065 Jul 17
 
Total
 
131 2076 Jun 17
 
Total
 
132 2087 May 17
 
Total
 
133 2098 Apr 15
 
Total
 

Inex series

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The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 39.

All events in this series listed below and more are total lunar eclipses.

Inex series from 1000 to 2500 AD
Ascending node Descending node Ascending node Descending node
Saros Date Saros Date Saros Date Saros Date
96 1027 Apr 23 97 1056 Apr 2 98 1085 Mar 14 99 1114 Feb 21
100 1143 Feb 1 101 1172 Jan 13 102 1200 Dec 22 103 1229 Dec 2
104 1258 Nov 12 105 1287 Oct 22 106 1316 Oct 2 107 1345 Sep 12
108 1374 Aug 22 109 1403 Aug 2 110 1432 Jul 13 111 1461 Jun 22
112 1490 Jun 2 113 1519 May 14 114 1548 Apr 22 115 1577 Apr 2
116 1606 Mar 24 117 1635 Mar 3 118 1664 Feb 11 119 1693 Jan 22
120 1722 Jan 2 121 1750 Dec 13 122 1779 Nov 23 123 1808 Nov 3
124 1837 Oct 13 125 1866 Sep 24 126 1895 Sep 4 127 1924 Aug 14
128 1953 Jul 26
 
129 1982 Jul 6
 
130 2011 Jun 15
 
131 2040 May 26
 
132 2069 May 6
 
133 2098 Apr 15
 
134 2127 Mar 28 135 2156 Mar 7
136 2185 Feb 14 137 2214 Jan 27 138 2243 Jan 7 139 2271 Dec 17
140 2300 Nov 27 141 2329 Nov 7 142 2358 Oct 18 143 2387 Sep 28
144 2416 Sep 7 145 2445 Aug 17 146 2474 Jul 29

Half-Saros cycle

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A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[3] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 139.

April 30, 2060 May 11, 2078
   

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Jean Meeus, G. P. Konnen, "Occultations of Bright Stars by the Eclipsed Moon", Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Vol. 85, No. 1, pp. 17-24 (1974).
  2. ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 132
  3. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
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References

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  • Bao-Lin Liu, Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1500 B.C.-A.D. 3000, 1992