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October 2014 lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipse of 8 October 2014 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

October 2014 lunar eclipse
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A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, October 8, 2014,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.1670. 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 2.2 days after perigee (on October 6, 2014, at 5:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

Quick Facts Date, Gamma ...

This lunar eclipse is the second of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on April 15, 2014; April 4, 2015; and September 28, 2015.

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Background

Main article: Lunar eclipse

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.[3] 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.

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The planet Uranus was near opposition (opposition on 7 October[4]) 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.

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Visibility and appearance

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NASA chart of the eclipse

The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, eastern Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and western North America, seen rising over Asia and much of Australia and setting over North and South America.[5]

The eclipse was visible in its entirety over the Northern Pacific. Viewers in North America experienced the eclipse after midnight on Wednesday, October 8, and the eclipse was visible from the Philippines, western Pacific, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and eastern Asia after sunset on the evening of October 8. Many areas of North America experienced a selenelion, able to see both the sun and the eclipsed moon at the same time.[6]

The MESSENGER spacecraft from orbit at the planet Mercury which was 107 million kilometers away from Earth at the time also observed the eclipse, making it the first lunar eclipse in history to be observed from another planet.[7][8]

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Visibility map
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Timing

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More information Time zoneadjustments from UTC, +8h ...

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

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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:[9]
  • 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.

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lunar eclipse of 2014 October 8.
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Composite from Aichi prefecture, Japan		 Thumb
Composite from Coralville, IA, first contact to the greatest.		 Thumb
Selenelion from Minneapolis, MN, with a partially eclipsed moon still up after sunrise, 12:26 UTC, seen by sunlight on foreground trees, right.
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    Minneapolis, MN, 9:46 UTC, triple exposure
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    Before the beginning of total eclipse, Valdosta, GA, 10:02 UTC
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    Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 10:26 UTC
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    California, 10:39 UTC
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    Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 10:41 UTC
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    The eclipse with Uranus in Minneapolis, 10:46 UTC
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    After the end of total eclipse, Santa Clara County, CA, 11:28 UTC
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    Partial phase of the eclipse, Hefei, China, 12:18 UTC
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    Minneapolis, MN, 12:24 UTC
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    Lunar eclipse as viewed from Mercury, captured from the MESSENGER spacecraft. The Moon can be seen falling into the shadow of Earth. This movie was constructed from 31 images taken two minutes apart, from 9:18 UTC to 10:18 UTC.
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Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[10]

More information Parameter, Value ...
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Eclipse season

See also: Eclipse cycle

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.

More information October 8Descending node (full moon), October 23Ascending node (new moon) ...
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Related eclipses

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Eclipses in 2014

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Lunar Saros 127

Inex

Triad

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1927
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 9, 2101

Lunar eclipses of 2013–2016

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.[11]

The penumbral lunar eclipse on May 25, 2013 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipse on August 18, 2016 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

More information Lunar eclipse series sets from 2013 to 2016, Ascending node ...

Saros 127

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on July 9, 1275. It contains partial eclipses from November 4, 1473 through May 18, 1780; total eclipses from May 29, 1798 through November 9, 2068; and a second set of partial eclipses from November 20, 2086 through June 17, 2429. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on September 2, 2555.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 46 seconds on July 23, 1888. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[12]

More information Greatest, First ...

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.

More information Series members 31–52 occur between 1801 and 2200: ...

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.

More information Series members between 1801 and 2200 ...

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.

More information Series members between 1801 and 2200 ...

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[14] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of solar saros 134.

October 3, 2005 October 14, 2023
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See also

References

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