A lunar eclipse happens at a Full Moon, when the Moon’s tilted orbit brings it into the Earth’s shadow, which can then be seen cast onto the Moon. While not as spectacular as a total solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse is much easier to see; and a total lunar eclipse is an amazing and beautiful sight.
A lunar eclipse is very different to a solar eclipse in terms of how the effects we see are created, because of our different point of view: in a solar eclipse, we stand at a particular point within the shadow of the Moon, and experience the effects of the shadow at that point; but in a lunar eclipse, we witness the whole of the Earth’s shadow falling upon the Moon.
For that reason, the types of lunar eclipses don’t correspond exactly to the types of solar eclipses. In addition, the Earth’s shadow is much larger than the Moon’s — because the Earth is larger — so it becomes possible for the whole Moon to be totally eclipsed, as this diagram shows (bear in mind that the scale is exaggerated; the Earth’s shadow doesn’t really cover a huge part of the Moon’s orbit):
The shadow cast by the Earth has two parts:
In the penumbra, the light from the Sun is partly blocked by the Earth, but not completely. An observer standing on the Moon within the Earth’s penumbra would see part of the Sun obscured; that is, they would see a partial solar eclipse. From Earth, when the Moon passes through the penumbra we see it dimming due to the reduced light, although in practice this can be hard to see with the eye.
In the umbra, the light from the Sun is completely blocked by the Earth. Our lunar observer would see a total solar eclipse; we see the Moon darkened, but glowing a dull red from light scattered by the Earth’s atmosphere.
As seen from the Earth, the penumbra and umbra form 2 concentric circles, through which the Moon passes during an eclipse. The type of eclipse seen depends on how close the Moon passes to the center of the shadow, as shown here….
From Nasa:
A concise summary of all lunar eclipses from 2011 through 2020 is presented in the table below. The first column gives the Calendar Date of the instant of greatest eclipse[1]. The second column TD of Greatest Eclipse is the Terrestrial Dynamical Time of greatest eclipse. The third column lists the Eclipse Type which is either Total, Partial, or Penumbral.
Eclipses recur over the Saros cycle, a period of approximately 18 years 11 days. Each eclipse belongs to the Saros Series shown in the 4th column. The Umbral Magnitude[2] (column 5) gives the fraction of the Moon’s diameter immersed in Earth’s umbral shadow at the instant of greatest eclipse. The Eclipse Duration[3] gives the length of the partial eclipse. If the eclipse is total then two durations are listed. The first is the interval between the beginning and end of the partial phases. The second value (in bold) is the duration the total phase. Finally, the Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility[4] provides a brief description of the regions where each eclipse will be seen.
Two fields in the summary table provide links to graphics and additional information for each eclipse. A figure consisting of a diagram and map for each eclipse may be seen by clicking on the Calendar Date. The top diagram shows the Moon’s trajectory with respect to Earth’s penumbral and umbral shadows. The equidistant projection map below illustrates the geographpic region of visibility for each phase of the eclipse. These figures are described in greater detail in the Key to Lunar Eclipse Maps. Each figure is stored as a PDF file of about 110 kilobytes.
All eclipses belonging to a particular Saros Series are listed in a table linked through the Saros number.
The Key to Lunar Eclipse Decade Table contains a more detailed description of each item in the table.
For more data on lunar eclipses during this period, see Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: 2001 to 2100 .
Lunar Eclipses: 2011 – 2020 | |||||||
Calendar Date | TD of Greatest Eclipse | Eclipse Type | Saros Series | Umbral Magnitude | Eclipse Duration | Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility | |
2011 Jun 15 | 20:13:43 | Total | 130 | 1.700 | 03h39m 01h40m |
S.America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus. | |
2011 Dec 10 | 14:32:56 | Total | 135 | 1.106 | 03h32m 00h51m |
Europe, e Africa, Asia, Aus., Pacific, N.A. | |
2012 Jun 04 | 11:04:20 | Partial | 140 | 0.370 | 02h07m | Asia, Aus., Pacific, Americas | |
2012 Nov 28 | 14:34:07 | Penumbral | 145 | -0.187 | – | Europe, e Africa, Asia, Aus., Pacific, N.A. | |
2013 Apr 25 | 20:08:38 | Partial | 112 | 0.015 | 00h27m | Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus. | |
2013 May 25 | 04:11:06 | Penumbral | 150 | -0.934 | – | Americas, Africa | |
2013 Oct 18 | 23:51:25 | Penumbral | 117 | -0.272 | – | Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia | |
2014 Apr 15 | 07:46:48 | Total | 122 | 1.291 | 03h35m 01h18m |
Aus., Pacific, Americas | |
2014 Oct 08 | 10:55:44 | Total | 127 | 1.166 | 03h20m 00h59m |
Asia, Aus., Pacific, Americas | |
2015 Apr 04 | 12:01:24 | Total | 132 | 1.001 | 03h29m 00h05m |
Asia, Aus., Pacific, Americas | |
2015 Sep 28 | 02:48:17 | Total | 137 | 1.276 | 03h20m 01h12m |
e Pacific, Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia | |
2016 Mar 23 | 11:48:21 | Penumbral | 142 | -0.312 | – | Asia, Aus., Pacific, w Americas | |
2016 Sep 16 | 18:55:27 | Penumbral | 147 | -0.064 | – | Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus., w Pacific | |
2017 Feb 11 | 00:45:03 | Penumbral | 114 | -0.035 | – | Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia | |
2017 Aug 07 | 18:21:38 | Partial | 119 | 0.246 | 01h55m | Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus. | |
2018 Jan 31 | 13:31:00 | Total | 124 | 1.315 | 03h23m 01h16m |
Asia, Aus., Pacific, w N.America | |
2018 Jul 27 | 20:22:54 | Total | 129 | 1.609 | 03h55m 01h43m |
S.America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus. | |
2019 Jan 21 | 05:13:27 | Total | 134 | 1.195 | 03h17m 01h02m |
c Pacific, Americas, Europe, Africa | |
2019 Jul 16 | 21:31:55 | Partial | 139 | 0.653 | 02h58m | S.America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus. | |
2020 Jan 10 | 19:11:11 | Penumbral | 144 | -0.116 | – | Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus. | |
2020 Jun 05 | 19:26:14 | Penumbral | 111 | -0.405 | – | Europe, Africa, Asia, Aus. | |
2020 Jul 05 | 04:31:12 | Penumbral | 149 | -0.644 | – | Americas, sw Europe, Africa | |
2020 Nov 30 | 09:44:01 | Penumbral | 116 | -0.262 | – | Asia, Aus., Pacific, Americas |
Geographic abbreviations (used above): n = north, s = south, e = east, w = west, c = central
[1] Greatest Eclipse is the instant when the distance between the axis of Earth’s umbral shadow and the center of the Moon’s disk reaches a minimum. [2] Umbral magnitude is the fraction of the Moon’s diameter obscured by Earth’s umbral shadow at the instant of greatest eclipse. For total eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than or equal to 1. For partial eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than 0 and less than 1. For penumbral eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always negative (i.e., less than 0). [3] Eclipse Duration is the duration of the partial phase of a partial eclipse. For total eclipses two values are given. The first is the period between the beginning and end of the partial phases, while the second value (in bold is the duration of the total phase. [4] Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility is the portion of Earth’s surface where some portion of the eclipse can be seen.
Solar Eclipses: 2008 – 2015 | |||||||
Calendar Date | TD of Greatest Eclipse | Eclipse Type | Saros Series | Eclipse Magnitude | Central Duration | Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility | |
(Link to Global Map) | (Link to Animation) | (Link to Google Map) | (Link to Saros) | (Link to Path Table) | (Link to RASC Observers Handbook) | ||
2008 Feb 07 | 03:56:10 | Annular | 121 | 0.965 | 02m12s | Antarctica, e Australia, N. Zealand [Annular: Antarctica] |
|
2008 Aug 01 | 10:22:12 | Total | 126 | 1.039 | 02m27s | ne N. America, Europe, Asia [Total: n Canada, Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia, China] |
|
2009 Jan 26 | 07:59:45 | Annular | 131 | 0.928 | 07m54s | s Africa, Antarctica, se Asia, Australia [Annular: s Indian, Sumatra, Borneo] |
|
2009 Jul 22 | 02:36:25 | Total | 136 | 1.080 | 06m39s | e Asia, Pacific Ocean, Hawaii [Total: India, Nepal, China, c Pacific] |
|
2010 Jan 15 | 07:07:39 | Annular | 141 | 0.919 | 11m08s | Africa, Asia [Annular: c Africa, India, Myanmar, China] |
|
2010 Jul 11 | 19:34:38 | Total | 146 | 1.058 | 05m20s | s S. America [Total: s Pacific, Easter Is., Chile, Argentina] |
|
2011 Jan 04 | 08:51:42 | Partial | 151 | 0.858 | – | Europe, Africa, c Asia | |
2011 Jun 01 | 21:17:18 | Partial | 118 | 0.601 | – | e Asia, n N. America, Iceland | |
2011 Jul 01 | 08:39:30 | Partial | 156 | 0.097 | – | s Indian Ocean | |
2011 Nov 25 | 06:21:24 | Partial | 123 | 0.905 | – | s Africa, Antarctica, Tasmania, N.Z. | |
2012 May 20 | 23:53:54 | Annular | 128 | 0.944 | 05m46s | Asia, Pacific, N. America [Annular: China, Japan, Pacific, w U.S.] |
|
2012 Nov 13 | 22:12:55 | Total | 133 | 1.050 | 04m02s | Australia, N.Z., s Pacific, s S. America [Total: n Australia, s Pacific] |
|
2013 May 10 | 00:26:20 | Annular | 138 | 0.954 | 06m03s | Australia, N.Z., c Pacific [Annular: n Australia, Solomon Is., c Pacific] |
|
2013 Nov 03 | 12:47:36 | Hybrid | 143 | 1.016 | 01m40s | e Americas, s Europe, Africa [Hybid: Atlantic, c Africa] |
|
2014 Apr 29 | 06:04:32 | Annular | 148 | 0.987 | – | s Indian, Australia, Antarctica [Annular: Antarctica] |
|
2014 Oct 23 | 21:45:39 | Partial | 153 | 0.811 | – | n Pacific, N. America | |
2015 Mar 20 | 09:46:47 | Total | 120 | 1.045 | 02m47s | Iceland, Europe, n Africa, n Asia [Total: n Atlantic, Faeroe Is, Svalbard] |
|
2015 Sep 13 | 06:55:19 | Partial | 125 | 0.788 | – | s Africa, s Indian, Antarctica |