A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on Tuesday, January 20, 1981, the first of two lunar eclipses in 1981. In a rare total penumbral eclipse, the entire Moon was partially shaded by the Earth (though none of it was in complete shadow), and the shading across the Moon should have been quite visible at maximum eclipse. The penumbral phase lasted for 4 hours and 24 minutes in all, though for most of it, the eclipse was extremely difficult, if not impossible to see. The moon's apparent diameter was larger because the eclipse occurred 5.2 days after perigee (Perigee on approximately 1981 Jan 15 at 03:01:56.7 UTC).[1]
This was a relatively rare total penumbral lunar eclipse with the moon passing entirely within the penumbral shadow without entering the darker umbral shadow.[2]
More details about the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 1981 Jan 20.
Lunar Saros series 114, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 13 total lunar eclipses.
First Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 0971 May 13
First Partial Lunar Eclipse: 1115 Aug 07
First Total Lunar Eclipse: 1458 Feb 28
First Central Lunar Eclipse: 1530 Apr 12
Greatest Eclipse of Lunar Saros 114: 1584 May 24
Last Central Lunar Eclipse: 1638 Jun 26
Last Total Lunar Eclipse: 1674 Jul 17
Last Partial Lunar Eclipse: 1890 Nov 26
Last Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 2233 Jun 22
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[3] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 121.
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