A partial

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

ascending 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 Saturday, August 16, 2008, 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 0.8095. 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 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 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 6.2 days before

apogee 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 10, 2008, at 16:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

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 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, and

west West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, central, and

south Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, seen rising over

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 setting over

east Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The planet

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

was 2 days past

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comedy ...

, visible in

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

as an 8th

"star" just two degrees west and slightly south of the Moon.

Images

Gallery

Progression from

Oslo, Norway Oslo ( or ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of towns and cities in Norway, most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a Counties of Norway, county and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a populat ...

Image:Full Moon Lunar Esclipse 17Aug08-2+ (2769097145).jpg,

Brighton, Queensland Brighton is a coastal northern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of the City of Brisbane, in the state of Queensland, in Australia. In the , Brighton had a population of 9,664 people. Geography Brighton and its neighbouring suburb Ba ...

, 20:03 UTC Image:Затмение Луны - panoramio.jpg,

Ruzsky District Ruzsky District () is an administrativeLaw #11/2013-OZ and municipalLaw #76/2005-OZ district (raion), one of the thirty-six in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located in the west of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrative center ...

, Russia, 20:21 UTC Image:Zio81 - Eclisse di Luna 16-08-08 (by).jpg,

Palinuro Palinuro is an Italian small town, the most populated civil parish (''frazione'') of Centola, Province of Salerno, in the Campania region. The name of the town is derived from Palinurus, the helmsman of Aeneas, as recorded in the fifth and s ...

, Italy, 20:31 UTC Image:Tel Aviv Lunar Ec 16th August IMG 0073.JPG,

Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, 20:43 UTC Image:2008-08-16 lunar eclipse01.jpg, Groningen, Netherlands, 20:50 UTC Image:Eclipselunarmadrid2.jpg,

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 20:53 UTC Image:P1040250 (web).jpg,

Jaguariúna Jaguariúna is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population is 58,722 (2020 est.) in an area of 141.39 km2. The elevation is 584 m. This place name comes from the Tupi ...

, Brazil, 21:00 UTC Image:ForsterFoto - Lunar Eclipse (by) (1).jpg,

Zürich, Switzerland Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, 21:06 UTC Image:Lune eclipsée par la terre et les nuages.jpg,

Toulouse, France Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, 21:07 UTC Image:080816020 Lunar Eclipse 03.jpg,

Solna, Sweden Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is ...

, 21:09 UTC Image:Partial Lunar Eclipse on 17 August 2008 (2770674184).jpg,

Boralesgamuwa Boralesgamuwa is a city on the Colombo-Horana Road about south-east of the commercial capital Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area ...

, Sri Lanka, 21:12 UTC Image:0515 am It was not a full one from here (2779973747).jpg,

Johor Bahru, Malaysia Johor Bahru, abbreviated as JB, is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Johor. It is the core city of Johor Bahru District, Malaysia's second-largest district by population and the second-largest district economy. Covering an area of 391 ...

, 21:15 UTC Image:Mondfinsternis 2008-08-16.jpg,

Langenbernsdorf Langenbernsdorf is a village in the district of Zwickau in the Free State of Saxony. Geography To the north of Langenbernsdorf is a wood called the Werdauer Wald. Neighboring municipalities Adjacent municipalities in the district of Zwickau inc ...

, Germany, 21:23 UTC Image:Moon eclipse august 2008.jpg,

Bucharest, Romania Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, 21:27 UTC Image:Lunar Eclipse in cloudy Poland – August 16, 2008 (2775294969).jpg, Rozbórz Długi, Poland, 21:45 UTC Image:Lunar eclipse on the night of Nisf Sha'ban (2768858499).jpg,

Nasr City Nasr City ( ) forms two of the nine districts of the Eastern Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is administratively divided into Nasr City West/One ''(Gharb Madinet Nasr/awwal),'' and Nasr City East/Two (''Sharq Madinet Nasr/thani''). In 2021, Nasr C ...

, Egypt, 22:12 UTC

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar 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 ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2008

* 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.

Metonic

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

Tzolkinex

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

Half-Saros

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s Lunar node, ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 11, 1999, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0286. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, thereby ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by some media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic c ...

Tritos

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

Lunar Saros 138

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

Inex

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

Triad

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

Lunar eclipses of 2006–2009

Metonic series

Saros 138

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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 145.

Notes

External links

NASA: Partial Lunar Eclipse: August 16, 2008

**
Hermit eclipse (Ian Cameron Smith) Partial Lunar Eclipse: August 16, 2008

Animation of lunar eclipse 16 August 2008
* APOD August 20, 2008

Composite photos showing Earth's shadow

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunar eclipse 2008-08 21st-century lunar eclipses, 2008-08 2008 in science August 2008