A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 25, 2013,[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.9322. 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 18 hours before perigee (on May 25, 2013, at 21:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
This eclipse was visually imperceptible due to the small entry into the penumbral shadow. It also marked the beginning of Saros series 150.
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.
This eclipse is the 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.
This is the first lunar eclipse of Saros series 150.[5] The next occurrence will also be a penumbral eclipse on 5 June 2031. Solar Saros 157 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.
Partial eclipses in series 150 will occur between 20 August 2157 and past the year 3000. Total eclipses will occur between 29 April 2572 and 28 August 2770.
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