en August 1988 lunar eclipse

August 1988 lunar eclipse
Partial eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	August 27, 1988
Gamma	−0.8682
Magnitude	0.2916
Saros cycle	118 (50 of 74)
Partiality	112 minutes, 58 seconds
Penumbral	262 minutes, 33 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	8:53:16
U1	10:08:04
Greatest	11:04:33
U4	12:01:02
P4	13:15:48
	← March 1988 February 1989 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, August 27, 1988,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.2916. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in the Earth's penumbra. 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. Occurring only about 7 hours before perigee (on August 17, 1988, at 17:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over eastern Australia, western North America, and much of the Pacific Ocean, seen rising over western Australia and the eastern half of Asia and setting over much of North America and South 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 27, 1988 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.23803
Umbral Magnitude	0.29159
Gamma	−0.86816
Sun Right Ascension	10h25m02.1s
Sun Declination	+09°54'10.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'50.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	22h26m40.4s
Moon Declination	-10°41'41.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'43.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	1°01'23.7"
ΔT	56.1 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 1988
August 27 Ascending node (full moon)	September 11 Descending node (new moon)

Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 118	Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 144

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1988–1991

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 lunar eclipses on June 27, 1991 (penumbral) and December 21, 1991 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1988 to 1991
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
113	1988 Mar 03	Penumbral	0.9886	118	1988 Aug 27	Partial	−0.8682
123	1989 Feb 20	Total	0.2935	128	1989 Aug 17	Total	−0.1491
133	1990 Feb 09	Total	−0.4148	138	1990 Aug 06	Partial	0.6374
143	1991 Jan 30	Penumbral	−1.0752	148	1991 Jul 26	Penumbral	1.4370

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 be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

1988 Mar 03.675 – Partial (113) 2007 Mar 03.972 – Total (123) 2026 Mar 03.481 – Total (133) 2045 Mar 03.320 – Penumbral (143)	1988 Aug 27.461 – partial (118) 2007 Aug 28.442 – total (128) 2026 Aug 28.175 – partial (138) 2045 Aug 27.578 – penumbral (148)

Saros 118

This eclipse is part of Saros cycle series 118.

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[6] This lunar eclipse is related to two solar eclipses of Solar Saros 125.