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February 1989 lunar eclipse
Total lunar eclipse February 20, 1989 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Monday, February 20, 1989,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.2747. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 3 days before apogee (on February 23, 1989, at 14:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]
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Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over the eastern half of Asia and Australia, seen rising over much of Africa, Europe, and west, central, and south Asia and setting over much of North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean.[3]
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Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
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Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
Related eclipses
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Eclipses in 1989
- A total lunar eclipse on February 20.
- A partial solar eclipse on March 7.
- A total lunar eclipse on August 17.
- A partial solar eclipse on August 31.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 4, 1985
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 9, 1992
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 1982
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1996
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1978
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 21, 2000
Lunar Saros 123
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 10, 1971
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2007
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1960
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 31, 2018
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1902
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 22, 2075
Lunar eclipses of 1988–1991
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]
The lunar eclipses on June 27, 1991 (penumbral) and December 21, 1991 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Metonic series
This is the third of five Metonic lunar eclipses.
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.
Saros 123
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 123, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on August 16, 1087. It contains partial eclipses from May 2, 1520 through July 6, 1610; total eclipses from July 16, 1628 through April 4, 2061; and a second set of partial eclipses from April 16, 2079 through July 2, 2205. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on October 8, 2367.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 105 minutes, 58 seconds on September 20, 1736. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[6]
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 130.
| February 16, 1980 | February 26, 1998 |
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Notes
External links
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