August 2055 lunar eclipse

August 2055 lunar eclipse

Partial eclipse
The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	August 7, 2055
Gamma	−0.4769
Magnitude	0.9606
Saros cycle	139 (22 of 79)
Partiality	203 minutes, 23 seconds
Penumbral	346 minutes, 20 seconds
Contacts (UTC) P1 7:58:25 U1 9:09:50 Greatest 10:53:18 U4 12:33:13 P4 13:44:45

A partial lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Saturday, August 7, 2055,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.9606. 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 about 4.4 days before apogee (on August 11, 2055, at 21:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be smaller.[2]

This lunar eclipse will be the last of an almost tetrad, with the others being on February 22, 2054 (total); August 18, 2054 (total); and February 11, 2055 (total).

The eclipse will last 3 hours, 23 minutes, and 23 seconds,[3] and it will also be the last of the first set of partial eclipses in Lunar Saros 139.

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over eastern Australia, Antarctica, and the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, seen rising over east Asia and western Australia and setting over North and South America.[4]

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[5]

August 7, 2055 Lunar Eclipse Parameters

Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.00808
Umbral Magnitude	0.96059
Gamma	−0.47690
Sun Right Ascension	09h09m39.9s
Sun Declination	+16°20'36.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'46.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	21h10m01.5s
Moon Declination	-16°46'26.9"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'03.3"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°55'15.1"
ΔT	88.8 s

Eclipse season

See also: Eclipse cycle

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 July–August 2055

July 24 Ascending node (new moon)	August 7 Descending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 127	Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 139

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2055

• A partial solar eclipse on January 27.
• A total lunar eclipse on February 11.
• A total solar eclipse on July 24.
• A partial lunar eclipse on August 7.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 19, 2051
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 27, 2059

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 26, 2048
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 18, 2062

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 2, 2046
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 12, 2064

Tritos

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 7, 2044
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 7, 2066

Lunar Saros 139

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 27, 2037
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 17, 2073

Inex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 28, 2026
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 17, 2084

Triad

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 6, 1968
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 8, 2142

Lunar eclipses of 2053–2056

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.[6]

The penumbral lunar eclipses on June 27, 2056 and December 22, 2056 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2053 to 2056
Ascending node					Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
114	2053 Mar 04	Penumbral	−1.0530		119	2053 Aug 29	Penumbral	1.0165
124	2054 Feb 22	Total	−0.3242		129	2054 Aug 18	Total	0.2806
134	2055 Feb 11	Total	0.3526		139	2055 Aug 07	Partial	−0.4769
144	2056 Feb 01	Penumbral	1.0682		149	2056 Jul 26	Partial	−1.2048

Saros 139

Lunar Saros series 139, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 79 lunar eclipse events including 42 umbral lunar eclipses (15 partial lunar eclipses and 27 total lunar eclipses)..

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2199 Nov 02, lasting 102 minutes.[7]	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1658 Dec 09	1947 Jun 03	2073 Aug 17	2109 Sep 09
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2488 Apr 26	2542 May 30	2686 Aug 25	3065 Apr 13

1901–2100

1911 May 13		1929 May 23		1947 Jun 03
1965 Jun 14		1983 Jun 25		2001 Jul 05
2019 Jul 16		2037 Jul 27		2055 Aug 07
2073 Aug 17		2091 Aug 29

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 146.

August 2, 2046	August 12, 2064

References

1. "August 6–7, 2055 Partial Lunar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
2. "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
3. "Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: 2001 to 2100". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on 2009-03-22. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
4. "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 2055 Aug 07" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
5. "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 2055 Aug 07". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
6. van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
7. Listing of Eclipses of cycle 139
8. Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros