en February 2017 lunar eclipse

February 2017 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
	Penumbral eclipse as viewed from Rabka-Zdrój, Poland, 0:51 UTC
Date	February 11, 2017
Gamma	−1.0254
Magnitude	−0.0342
Saros cycle	114 (59 of 71)
Penumbral	259 minutes, 10 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	22:34:16
Greatest	0:43:53
P4	2:53:26
	← September 2016 August 2017 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, February 11, 2017,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.0342. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon's near side passes into 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 4.6 days before perigee (on February 6, 2017, at 9:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

This eclipse occurred the same day as comet 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková made a close approach to Earth (0.08318 AU). It also occurred on the Lantern Festival, the first eclipse to do so since February 9, 2009.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over northeastern North America, eastern South America, Europe, Africa, and west Asia, seen rising over much of North America and western South America and setting over south and east Asia.^[3]

	Hourly motion shown right to left
Visibility map

Gallery

Popayán, Colombia, 23:43 UTC (10 February)
Kissimmee, Florida, 0:00 UTC
Tampa, Florida, 0:11 UTC
Time lapse images from Melbourne, Florida
Bracciano, Italy, 0:29 UTC
Macon, Georgia, 0:38 UTC
Naperville, Illinois, 1:23 UTC
Innsbruck, Austria, ~2:00 UTC

Eclipse details

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

February 11, 2017 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.98956
Umbral Magnitude	−0.03421
Gamma	−1.02548
Sun Right Ascension	21h39m19.2s
Sun Declination	-14°01'07.8"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'12.3"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	09h38m22.6s
Moon Declination	+13°03'10.2"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'49.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°58'05.6"
ΔT	68.3 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 2017
February 11 Ascending node (full moon)	February 26 Descending node (new moon)

Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 114	Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 140

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 2016–2020

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2016–2020
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type Viewing	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
109	2016 Aug 18	Penumbral	1.56406	114	2017 Feb 11	Penumbral	−1.02548
119	2017 Aug 07	Partial	0.86690	124	2018 Jan 31	Total	−0.30143
129	2018 Jul 27	Total	0.11681	134	2019 Jan 21	Total	0.36842
139	2019 Jul 16	Partial	−0.64300	144	2020 Jan 10	Penumbral	1.07270
149	2020 Jul 05	Penumbral	−1.36387

Last set	2016 Sep 16			Last set	2016 Mar 23

Next set	2020 Jun 05			Next set	2020 Nov 30

Saros 114

It is part of Saros cycle 114.

Lunar Saros series 114, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 13 total lunar eclipses.

First Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 0971 May 13

First Partial Lunar Eclipse: 1115 Aug 07

First Total Lunar Eclipse: 1458 Feb 28

First Central Lunar Eclipse: 1530 Apr 12

Greatest Eclipse of Lunar Saros 114: 1584 May 24

Last Central Lunar Eclipse: 1638 Jun 26

Last Total Lunar Eclipse: 1674 Jul 17

Last Partial Lunar Eclipse: 1890 Nov 26

Last Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 2233 Jun 22

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 121.