March 2044 lunar eclipse

March 2044 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	March 13, 2044
Gamma	−0.3496
Magnitude	1.2050
Saros cycle	133 (28 of 71)
Totality	66 minutes, 25 seconds
Partiality	209 minutes, 5 seconds
Penumbral	338 minutes, 23 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	16:47:56
U1	17:52:31
U2	19:03:51
Greatest	19:37:05
U3	20:10:16
U4	21:21:35
P4	22:26:19
	← September 2043 September 2044 →

A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Sunday, March 13, 2044,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.2050. 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 6.2 days after perigee (on March 7, 2044, at 15:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.^[2]

This lunar eclipse is the third of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on March 25, 2043; September 19, 2043; and September 7, 2044.

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over east Africa, eastern Europe, and much of Asia, seen rising over west Africa, western Europe, and eastern South America and setting over northeast Asia and Australia.^[3]

Eclipse details

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

March 13, 2044 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.23223
Umbral Magnitude	1.20503
Gamma	−0.34957
Sun Right Ascension	23h37m30.3s
Sun Declination	-02°25'56.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'05.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.8"
Moon Right Ascension	11h36m51.3s
Moon Declination	+02°08'22.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'39.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°57'29.1"
ΔT	81.5 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 February–March 2044
February 28 Ascending node (new moon)	March 13 Descending node (full moon)

Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 121	Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 133

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 2042–2045

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2042-2045
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart
Descending node			Ascending node
113	2042 Apr 05	Penumbral	118	2042 Sep 29	Penumbral
123	2043 Mar 25	Total	128	2043 Sep 19	Total
133	2044 Mar 13	Total	138	2044 Sep 07	Total
143	2045 Mar 03	Penumbral	148	2045 Aug 27	Penumbral

Last set	2041 May 16		Last set	2042 Nov 08

Next set	2046 Jan 22		Next set	2046 Jul 18

Metonic series

The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

2006 Mar 14.99 - penumbral (113) 2025 Mar 14.29 - total (123) 2044 Mar 13.82 - total (133) 2063 Mar 14.67- partial (143)	2006 Sep 07.79 - partial (118) 2025 Sep 07.76 - total (128) 2044 Sep 07.47 - partial (138) 2063 Sep 07.86 - penumbral (148)

Tritos series

The tritos series repeats 31 days short of 11 years at alternating nodes. Sequential events have incremental Saros cycle indices.

This series produces 23 total eclipses between June 22, 1880 and August 9, 2120.

Tritos eclipse series (subset 1901–2100)
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type chart	Saros	Date Viewing	Type chart
120	1902 Apr 22	Total	121	1913 Mar 22	Total
122	1924 Feb 20	Total	123	1935 Jan 19	Total
124	1945 Dec 19	Total	125	1956 Nov 18	Total
126	1967 Oct 18	Total	127	1978 Sep 16	Total
128	1989 Aug 17	Total	129	2000 Jul 16	Total
130	2011 Jun 15	Total	131	2022 May 16	Total
132	2033 Apr 14	Total	133	2044 Mar 13	Total
134	2055 Feb 11	Total	135	2066 Jan 11	Total
136	2076 Dec 10	Total	137	2087 Nov 10	Total
138	2098 Oct 10	Total

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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 140.