July 2018 lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipse July 27, 2018
Ecliptic north up The moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow.
Saros cycle	129 (38 of 71)
Gamma	+0.1168
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality	1:42:57
Partial	3:54:32
Penumbral	6:13:48
Contacts (UTC)
P1	17:14:49
U1	18:24:27
U2	19:30:15
Greatest	20:21:44
U3	21:13:12
U4	22:19:00
P4	23:28:37

A total lunar eclipse will take place on July 27, 2018. The moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. This will be the first central lunar eclipse since the June 15, 2011 lunar eclipse.

Due to occurring near apogee, this eclipse will also be the longest total lunar eclipse in the 21st century. Totality will last for nearly 103 minutes.^[1]

The eclipse will be the second total lunar eclipse in 2018, after the January 2018 eclipse.

Visibility

It will be completely visible over Eastern Africa, and Central Asia, seen rising over South America, Western Africa, and Europe, and setting over Eastern Asia, and Australia.

View of Earth from Moon at greatest eclipse
Visibility map

Background

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (shadow). As the eclipse begins, 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 Earth's atmosphere into its umbra.^[2]

The following simulation shows the approximate appearance of the Moon passing through Earth's shadow. The Moon's brightness is exaggerated within the umbral shadow. The northern portion of the Moon was closest to the center of the shadow, making it darkest, and most red in appearance.

Related eclipses

Lunar year series

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.^[3]

The penumbral lunar eclipses on March 23, 2016 and September 16, 2016 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipses on June 5, 2020 and November 30, 2020 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2016 to 2020
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
109	2016 Aug 18	Penumbral	1.5641	114	2017 Feb 11	Penumbral	−1.0255
119	2017 Aug 07	Partial	0.8669	124	2018 Jan 31	Total	−0.3014
129	2018 Jul 27	Total	0.1168	134	2019 Jan 21	Total	0.3684
139	2019 Jul 16	Partial	−0.6430	144	2020 Jan 10	Penumbral	1.0727
149	2020 Jul 05	Penumbral	−1.3639

Saros series

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 10, 1351. It contains partial eclipses from September 26, 1531 through May 11, 1892; total eclipses from May 24, 1910 through September 8, 2090; and a second set of partial eclipses from September 20, 2108 through April 26, 2469. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on July 24, 2613.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 106 minutes, 24 seconds on July 16, 2000. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.^[4]

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 2000 Jul 16, lasting 106 minutes, 24 seconds.^[5]	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1351 Jun 10	1531 Sep 26	1910 May 24	1946 Jun 14
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2036 Aug 07	2090 Sep 08	2469 Apr 26	2613 Jul 24

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.

Series members 26–48 occur between 1801 and 2200:
26	27	28
1802 Mar 19	1820 Mar 29	1838 Apr 10

29	30	31
1856 Apr 20	1874 May 01	1892 May 11

32	33	34
1910 May 24	1928 Jun 03	1946 Jun 14

35	36	37
1964 Jun 25	1982 Jul 06	2000 Jul 16

38	39	40
2018 Jul 27	2036 Aug 07	2054 Aug 18

41	42	43
2072 Aug 28	2090 Sep 08	2108 Sep 20

44	45	46
2126 Oct 01	2144 Oct 11	2162 Oct 23

47	48
2180 Nov 02	2198 Nov 13