A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Friday, July 16, 2038,[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.4938. 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 4.9 days before perigee (on July 11, 2038, at 15:35 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.[2]
This eclipse will be the third of four penumbral lunar eclipses in 2038, with the others occurring on January 21, June 17, and December 11.
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.
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 156.
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