en January 2038 lunar eclipse

January 2038 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	January 21, 2038
Gamma	1.0710
Magnitude	−0.1127
Saros cycle	144 (17 of 70)
Penumbral	245 minutes, 48 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	1:46:58
Greatest	3:49:52
P4	5:52:46
	← July 2037 June 2038 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, January 21, 2038,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.1127. 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 3.1 days before perigee (on January 24, 2038, at 4:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.^[2]

This eclipse will be the first of four penumbral lunar eclipses in 2038, with the others occurring on June 17, July 16, and December 11.

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over North and South America, west Africa, and Europe, seen rising over the eastern Pacific Ocean and setting over east Africa and west and central Asia.^[3]

Eclipse details

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

January 21, 2038 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.90085
Umbral Magnitude	−0.11271
Gamma	1.07108
Sun Right Ascension	20h13m39.3s
Sun Declination	-19°53'23.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'15.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	08h14m12.5s
Moon Declination	+20°55'55.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'02.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°58'51.1"
ΔT	78.0 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 January 2038
January 5 Descending node (new moon)	January 21 Ascending node (full moon)

Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 132	Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 144

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 2035–2038

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2035-2038
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart
Ascending node			Descending node
114	2035 Feb 22	Penumbral	119	2035 Aug 19	Partial
124	2036 Feb 11	Total	129	2036 Aug 07	Total
134	2037 Jan 31	Total	139	2037 Jul 27	Partial
144	2038 Jan 21	Penumbral	149	2038 Jul 16	Penumbral

Last set	2034 Apr 03		Last set	2034 Sep 28

Next set	2038 Jun 17		Next set	2038 Dec 11

Saros 144

Lunar Saros series 144, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 20 total lunar eclipses.

First Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 1749 Jul 29

First Partial Lunar Eclipse: 2146 Mar 28

First Total Lunar Eclipse: 2308 Jul 04

First Central Lunar Eclipse: 2362 Aug 06

Greatest Eclipse of the Lunar Saros 144: 2416 Sep 07

Last Central Lunar Eclipse: 2488 Oct 20

Last Total Lunar Eclipse: 2651 Jan 28

Last Partial Lunar Eclipse: 2867 Jun 08

Last Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 3011 Sep 04

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 151.