August 2072 lunar eclipse

August 2072 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	August 28, 2072
Gamma	0.3563
Magnitude	1.1673
Saros cycle	129 (41 of 71)
Totality	64 minutes, 12 seconds
Partiality	220 minutes, 19 seconds
Penumbral	306 minutes, 0 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	13:00:22
U1	14:13:12
U2	15:31:16
Greatest	16:03:22
U3	16:35:27
U4	17:53:31
P4	19:06:22
	← March 2072 February 2073 →

A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Sunday, August 28, 2072,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.1673. 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 4.5 hours before apogee (on August 28, 2072, at 20:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be smaller.^[2]

This lunar eclipse will be the second of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on March 4, 2072; February 22, 2073; and August 17, 2073.

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over southeast and east Asia, Australia, and Antarctica, seen rising over Africa, Europe, and west and central Asia and setting over the eastern Pacific Ocean and western North America.^[3]

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.^[4]

August 28, 2072 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.24389
Umbral Magnitude	1.16727
Gamma	0.35634
Sun Right Ascension	10h31m55.6s
Sun Declination	+09°13'37.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'50.1"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	22h31m34.3s
Moon Declination	-08°55'07.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'42.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°53'58.7"
ΔT	101.6 s

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.

Eclipse season of August–September 2072
August 28 Descending node (full moon)	September 12 Ascending node (new moon)

Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 129	Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 155

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2072

Lunar eclipses of 2071–2074

Saros 129

Lunar saros series 129, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, containing 71 events, has 11 total lunar eclipses. The first total lunar eclipse of this series was on May 24, 1910, and last will be on September 8, 2090. The longest occurrence of this series was on July 16, 2000 when totality lasted 106 minutes and 24.6 seconds.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 2000 Jul 16, lasting 106 minutes.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1351 Jun 10	1513 Sep 15	1910 May 24	1946 Jun 14
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2036 Aug 7	2090 Sep 8	2469 Apr 26	2613 Jul 24

It last occurred on August 18, 2054 and will next occur on September 8, 2090.

This is the 40th member of Lunar Saros 129. The previous event was the August 2036 lunar eclipse. The next event is the August 2072 lunar eclipse. Lunar Saros 129 contains 11 total lunar eclipses between 1910 and 2090. Solar Saros 136 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[5] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 136.