September 1997 lunar eclipse explained

bgcolor=#e7dcc3 colspan=2	Total Lunar Eclipse September 16, 1997	- align=center	colspan=2	-->
The Moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals.
align=center bgcolor=#c0d0e0	Series	137 (27 of 81)
align=center bgcolor=#c0d0e0	Gamma	-0.3768
align=center bgcolor=#c0d0e0	Magnitude	1.1909
align=center bgcolor=#c0b0e0 colspan=2	Duration (hr:mn:sc)
align=center bgcolor=#b0a0e0	Totality	1:11:30
align=center bgcolor=#c0a0e0	Partial	3:16:27
align=center bgcolor=#d0d0e0	Penumbral	5:08:14
align=center bgcolor=#a0d0e0 colspan=2	Contacts
align=center bgcolor=#d0d0e0	P1	16:12:32 UTC
align=center bgcolor=#c0a0e0	U1	17:08:25 UTC
align=center bgcolor=#b0a0e0	U2	18:15:54 UTC
align=center bgcolor=#a0a0e0	Greatest	18:46:39 UTC
align=center bgcolor=#b0a0e0	U3	19:17:24 UTC
align=center bgcolor=#c0a0e0	U4	20:24:52 UTC
align=center bgcolor=#d0d0e0	P4	21:20:46 UTC

A total lunar eclipse took place at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Tuesday, September 16, 1997, the second of two lunar eclipses in 1997. A shallow total eclipse saw the Moon in relative darkness for 1 hour, 1 minute and 30.8 seconds. The Moon was 19.094% of its diameter into the Earth's umbral shadow, and should have been significantly darkened. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 16 minutes and 28.2 seconds in total. The penumbral eclipse lasted for 5 hours, 8 minutes and 20.1 seconds. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 16 minutes and 28.2 seconds. The total eclipse lasted for 1 hour, 1 minute and 30.8 seconds. Maximum eclipse was at 18:46:39.1 UTC. The moon's apparent diameter was extremely large (6.3% larger than average) because occurred only 3 hours and 21 minutes past perigee. The Moon was only 356,986 km (221,820 mi) of the Earth at greatest eclipse.

This eclipse was the fourth and last of an almost tetrad (that occurred when there were 4 consecutive lunar eclipses that had an umbral eclipse magnitude of 0.9 or greater). The others were 04 Apr 1996 (T), 27 Sep 1996 (T) and 24 Mar 1997 (P).

This eclipse was the 25th eclipse in Saros series 137 (lunar eclipse), descending node. The previous event was on Thursday, September 6, 1979. The next event was on Monday, September 28, 2015.

Visibility

It was visible from all of Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 1997

• A total solar eclipse on March 9.
• A partial lunar eclipse on March 24.
• A partial solar eclipse on September 2.
• A total lunar eclipse on September 16.

Lunar year series

This is the third of four lunar year eclipses at the descending node of the Moon's orbit.

Saros series

It is part of Saros series 137.

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[1] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 144.

See also

• List of lunar eclipses
• List of 20th-century lunar eclipses

External links

• Prof. Druckmüller's eclipse photography site. Czech Republic
• Saros cycle 137
  • The EAAE Lunar Eclipse Project September 16, 1997
• Total Lunar Eclipses seen from Cape Town Total lunar eclipse, September 16, 1997.
• Total Lunar Eclipse September 16, 1997, Western Australia

Notes and References

1. Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros