A penumbral

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, ...

occurred at the Moon’s

descending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit on Tuesday, August 26, 1980, with an umbral

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of −0.2531. A lunar eclipse occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

moves into the

Earth's shadow Earth's shadow (or Earth shadow) is the shadow that Earth itself casts through its atmosphere and into outer space, toward the antisolar point. During the twilight period (both early dusk and late dawn), the shadow's visible fringe – someti ...

, 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 A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the

night Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...

side of Earth. Occurring about 1.7 days before

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on August 27, 1980, at 20:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over central and eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and

west Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

, seen rising over western North America and the central

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

and setting over central and

eastern Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Eclipse details

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

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, 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 A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one

synodic month In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive Syzygy (astronomy), syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona people, S ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1980

* A total solar eclipse on February 16. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 1. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 27. * An annular solar eclipse on August 10. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 26.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 6, 1976 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 13, 1984

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 15, 1973 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 7, 1987

Half-Saros

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, 1971, with a magnitude of 0.508. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or p ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 31, 1989 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, August 31, 1989, with a magnitude of 0.6344. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 25, 1969 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 26, 1991

Lunar Saros 147

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 15, 1962 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 6, 1998

Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 15, 1951 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 2009

Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 25, 1893 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 27, 2067

Lunar eclipses of 1977–1980

Saros 147

Tritos series

Inex series

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, ''The half-saros'' This lunar eclipse is related to two partial solar eclipses of

Solar Saros 154 Saros cycle series 154 for solar eclipses occurs at the Moon's descending lunar node, node, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 eclipses, 56 of which will be umbral (17 annular, 3 hybrid, 36 total). The first eclipse in the series was ...

Notes

External links

* 1980-08 1980 in science August 1980 {{lunar-eclipse-stub