en July 2009 lunar eclipse

July 2009 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
	The Moon grazed the southern penumbral shadow of the Earth.
Date	July 7, 2009
Gamma	−1.4915
Magnitude	−0.9116
Saros cycle	110 (71 of 72)
Penumbral	121 minutes, 29 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	8:37:51
Greatest	9:38:36
P4	10:39:20
	← February 2009 August 2009 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, July 7, 2009,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.9116. 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 only about 8 hours before apogee (on July 7, 2009, at 17:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.^[2] This eclipse entered only the southernmost tip of the penumbral shadow and thus was predicted to be very difficult to observe visually.^[3]

This eclipse was the second of four lunar eclipses in 2009, with the others occurring on February 9 (penumbral), August 6 (penumbral), and December 31 (partial).

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over eastern Australia and western North and South America, seen rising over western Australia and setting over eastern North and South America.^[4]

	Hourly motion shown right to left	The Moon's hourly motion across the Earth's shadow in the constellation of Sagittarius.
Visibility map

Eclipse details

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

July 7, 2009 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.15783
Umbral Magnitude	−0.91159
Gamma	−1.49158
Sun Right Ascension	07h06m54.1s
Sun Declination	+22°32'55.2"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'43.9"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	19h08m08.1s
Moon Declination	-23°51'38.0"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'42.6"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°53'59.3"
ΔT	65.9 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.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Eclipse season of July–August 2009
July 7 Ascending node (full moon)	July 22 Descending node (new moon)	August 6 Ascending node (full moon)

Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 110	Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 136	Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 148

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 2009–2013

This eclipse is one of five lunar eclipses in a short-lived series. The lunar year series repeats after 12 lunations or 354 days (Shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, the Earth's shadow will be about 11 degrees west in sequential events.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2009–2013
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros # Photo	Date Viewing	Type chart	Gamma	Saros # Photo	Date Viewing	Type chart	Gamma
110	2009 Jul 07	penumbral	−1.4916	115	2009 Dec 31	partial	0.9766
120	2010 Jun 26	partial	−0.7091	125	2010 Dec 21	total	0.3214
130	2011 Jun 15	total	0.0897	135	2011 Dec 10	total	−0.3882
140	2012 Jun 04	partial	0.8248	145	2012 Nov 28	penumbral	−1.0869
150	2013 May 25	penumbral	1.5351

Last set	2009 Aug 06			Last set	2009 Feb 9

Next set	2013 Apr 25			Next set	2013 Oct 18

Saros 110

This eclipse is a member of Saros series 110. The previous event occurred on 27 June 1991. The next event is on 18 July 2027 which will end the 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).^[9] This lunar eclipse is related to two partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 117.