August 2008 lunar eclipse

Partial eclipse
Partiality as viewed from Cape Town, South Africa.
Date	August 16, 2008
Gamma	0.5646
Magnitude	0.8095
Saros cycle	138 (28 of 82)
Partiality	188 minutes, 8 seconds
Penumbral	330 minutes, 31 seconds
Contacts (UTC) P1 18:24:50 U1 19:36:05 Greatest 21:10:06 U4 22:44:13 P4 23:55:21
← February 2008 February 2009 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, August 16, 2008,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.8095. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in 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 6.2 days before apogee (on August 10, 2008, at 16:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.^[2]

The eclipse was completely visible over Africa, Europe, Antarctica, and west, central, and south Asia, seen rising over South America and setting over east Asia and Australia.^[3]

The planet Neptune was 2 days past opposition, visible in binoculars as an 8th magnitude "star" just two degrees west and slightly south of the Moon.

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

Progression from Oslo, Norway

• 
  Brighton, Queensland, 20:03 UTC
• 
  Ruzsky District, Russia, 20:21 UTC
• 
  Palinuro, Italy, 20:31 UTC
• 
  Tel Aviv, Israel, 20:43 UTC
• 
  Groningen, Netherlands, 20:50 UTC
• 
  Madrid, Spain, 20:53 UTC
• 
  Jaguariúna, Brazil, 21:00 UTC
• 
  Zürich, Switzerland, 21:06 UTC
• 
  Toulouse, France, 21:07 UTC
• 
  Solna, Sweden, 21:09 UTC
• 
  Boralesgamuwa, Sri Lanka, 21:12 UTC
• 
  Johor Bahru, Malaysia, 21:15 UTC
• 
  Langenbernsdorf, Germany, 21:23 UTC
• 
  Bucharest, Romania, 21:27 UTC
• 
  Rozbórz Długi, Poland, 21:45 UTC
• 
  Nasr City, Egypt, 22:12 UTC

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

August 16, 2008 Lunar Eclipse Parameters

Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.83849
Umbral Magnitude	0.80946
Gamma	0.56463
Sun Right Ascension	09h46m37.2s
Sun Declination	+13°24'18.2"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'47.9"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	21h45m41.8s
Moon Declination	-12°55'29.2"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'21.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°56'20.6"
ΔT	65.7 s

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 August 2008

August 1 Descending node (new moon)	August 16 Ascending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 126	Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 138

• An annular solar eclipse on February 7.
• A total lunar eclipse on February 21.
• A total solar eclipse on August 1.
• A partial lunar eclipse on August 16.

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 28, 2004
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 2012

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 5, 2001
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 28, 2015

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 16, 1997
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 16, 2019

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 1990
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 28, 2026

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 6, 1979
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 27, 2037

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 16, 1921
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 17, 2095

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2006–2009
Descending node					Ascending node
Saros # and photo	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma		Saros # and photo	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
113	2006 Mar 14	penumbral	1.0211		118	2006 Sep 7	partial	−0.9262
123	2007 Mar 03	total	0.3175		128	2007 Aug 28	total	−0.2146
133	2008 Feb 21	total	−0.3992		138	2008 Aug 16	partial	0.5646
143	2009 Feb 09	penumbral	−1.0640		148	2009 Aug 06	penumbral	1.3572
Last set	2005 Apr 24				Last set	2005 Oct 17
Next set	2009 Dec 31				Next set	2009 Jul 07

Lunar saros series 138 has 26 total eclipses between September 7, 2044 and March 24, 2369. The longest eclipse will be on January 7, 2243, and last for 102 minutes.

Partial eclipses will occur between June 24, 1918 and August 13, 2603. Penumbral eclipses will occur between October 15, 1521 and March 30, 2982. ^[5]

The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Metonic lunar eclipse sets 1951–2027

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type		Saros	Date	Type
103	1951 Feb 21.88	Penumbral		108	1951 Aug 17.13	Penumbral
113	1970 Feb 21.35	Partial		118	1970 Aug 17.14	Partial
123	1989 Feb 20.64	Total		128	1989 Aug 17.13	Total
133	2008 Feb 21.14	Total		138	2008 Aug 16.88	Partial
143	2027 Feb 20.96	Penumbral		148	2027 Aug 17.30	Penumbral

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[6] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 145.

August 11, 1999	August 21, 2017

• List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
• Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008
• File:2008-08-16 Lunar Eclipse Sketch.gif Chart

• NASA: Partial Lunar Eclipse: August 16, 2008
• NASA
  • 2008 Aug 16 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
• Hermit eclipse (Ian Cameron Smith) Partial Lunar Eclipse: August 16, 2008
• Sky&Telescope, Eclipses of 2008
• Animation of lunar eclipse 16 August 2008
• APOD August 20, 2008, [1]
• Composite photos showing Earth's shadow
• Spaceweather.com lunar eclipse gallery