en August 2054 lunar eclipse

August 2054 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	August 18, 2054
Gamma	0.2806
Magnitude	1.3074
Saros cycle	129 (40 of 71)
Totality	82 minutes, 57 seconds
Partiality	226 minutes, 32 seconds
Penumbral	369 minutes, 27 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	6:20:05
U1	7:31:32
U2	8:43:19
Greatest	9:24:48
U3	10:06:16
U4	11:18:04
P4	12:29:32
	← February 2054 February 2055 →

A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Tuesday, August 18, 2054,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.3074. 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 2 hours after apogee (on August 18, 2054, at 6:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be smaller.^[2]

This lunar eclipse will be the second of an almost tetrad, with the others being on February 22, 2054 (total); February 11, 2055 (total); and August 7, 2055 (partial).

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over western North America and the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, seen rising over east Asia and Australia and setting over eastern 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 18, 2054 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.38166
Umbral Magnitude	1.30735
Gamma	0.28065
Sun Right Ascension	09h51m47.0s
Sun Declination	+12°57'08.8"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'48.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	21h51m32.0s
Moon Declination	-12°42'26.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'42.4"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°53'58.4"
ΔT	88.1 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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.

Eclipse season of August–September 2054
August 3 Ascending node (new moon)	August 18 Descending node (full moon)	September 2 Ascending node (new moon)

Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 117	Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 129	Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 155

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2054

Lunar eclipses of 2053–2056

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2053–2056
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart
Ascending node			Descending node
114	2053 Mar 04	Penumbral	119	2053 Aug 29	Penumbral
124	2054 Feb 22	Total	129	2054 Aug 18	Total
134	2055 Feb 11	Total	139	2055 Aug 07	Partial
144	2056 Feb 01	Penumbral	149	2056 Jul 26	Partial

Last set	2052 Apr 14		Last set	2052 Oct 08

Next set	2056 Dec 22		Next set	2056 Jun 27

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 7, 2036 and will next occur on August 28, 2072.

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.