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September 1997 lunar eclipse
Total lunar eclipse September 16, 1997 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Tuesday, September 16, 1997,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.1909. 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 only about 2.5 hours after perigee (on September 16, 1997, at 16:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
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This lunar eclipse was the last of an almost tetrad, with the others being on April 4, 1996 (total); September 27, 1996 (total); and March 24, 1997 (partial).
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Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over east Africa, eastern Europe, much of Asia, and western Australia, seen rising over eastern South America, western Europe, and west and central Africa and setting over northeast Asia and eastern Australia.[3]
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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.[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 1997
- A total solar eclipse on March 9.
- A partial lunar eclipse on March 24.
- A partial solar eclipse on September 2.
- A total lunar eclipse on September 16.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 29, 1993
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 5, 2001
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 1990
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 28, 2004
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 11, 1988
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 22, 2006
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 17, 1986
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 16, 2008
Lunar Saros 137
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 6, 1979
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 28, 2015
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 6, 1968
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 28, 2026
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 17, 1910
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 17, 2084
Lunar eclipses of 1995–1998
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 penumbral lunar eclipse on August 8, 1998 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 137
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 137, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 78 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on December 17, 1564. It contains partial eclipses from June 10, 1835 through August 26, 1961; total eclipses from September 6, 1979 through June 28, 2466; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 9, 2484 through September 12, 2592. The series ends at member 78 as a penumbral eclipse on April 20, 2953.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 44 at 99 minutes, 53 seconds on April 13, 2340. 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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 144.
| September 11, 1988 | September 22, 2006 |
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References
External links
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