A total

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 Saturday, March 3, 2007, 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 1.2347. 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 total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. 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. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's

shadow A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...

is smaller. Occurring about 2.9 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 March 6, 2007, at 22:40 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 ...

, and

west Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

, seen rising over much of

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

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 much of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

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 ...

Images

Gallery

Image:Eclipse070304.JPG, From Kirchberg, St. Gallen, 23:30 UTC Image:Lunar Eclipse 2007-03-03 23.52pm (RLH).jpg, From

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, UK, 23:52 UTC Image:Mondfinsternis 030307.jpg, From

Augsburg, Germany Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and the regional seat of the Swabia with a well preserved Altstadt (historical city centre). Augsbu ...

, 23:53 UTC Image:Lunar Eclipse 2007-03-04 00.01am (RLH).jpg, From Huddersfield, UK, 0:01 UTC Image:Eclipse20070304-2.JPG, From Kirchberg, St. Gallen, 0:15 UTC Image:LunarEclipse20070303CRH.JPG, From

Cambridge, UK Cambridge ( ) is a city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of t ...

Image:Thomas Knoblauch - Lunar Eclipse small-43img (pd).gif, Timelapse movie in Bülach, Switzerland Image:ComputerHotline - Lunar eclipse of 2007 March 3 animation (by).gif, Timelapse movie in

Belfort Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort. Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...

, France Image:Yasmapaz - Eclipse lunar March 3, 2007 (by-sa).jpg, Humacao, Puerto Rico, 07:43 EST Image:Eclipse as seen from Candelero Arriba, Humacao, Puerto Rico.jpg, Humacao, Puerto Rico, 08:30:16 EST

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 2007

* A total lunar eclipse on March 3. * A partial solar eclipse on March 19. * A total lunar eclipse on August 28. * A partial solar eclipse on September 11.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 16, 2003 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 21, 2010

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 21, 2000 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 15, 2014

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of March 9, 2016 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Tuesday, March 8 and Wednesday, March 9, 2016, with a magnitude of 1.045. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's and the ...

Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1996 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 31, 2018

Lunar Saros 123

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 20, 1989 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025

Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1978 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 11, 2036

Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 3, 1920 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 1, 2094

Lunar eclipses of 2006–2009

Metonic series

Saros 123

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 130 Saros cycle series 130 for solar eclipses occurs at the Moon's descending lunar node, node, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 73 eclipses, 43 of which are umbral (all total). The first eclipse in the series was on 20 August 1096 an ...

Notes

External links

*
Hermit eclipse: Total lunar eclipse: March 3, 2007
* Photos *

*
Flickr: Lunar Eclipse 3/3/2007
pictures of the eclipse, many of which CC-licensed, from

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

members *
Live webcast of the total lunar eclipse 3/4 March 2007 by Astronet (The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain)
*
Video of the March 3, 2007 eclipse as seen from the UK
*
Lunar Eclipse 3/3/2007
*
Animated sequence
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunar eclipse 2007-03 2007-03 2007 in science March 2007