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

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 Wednesday, March 23, 2016, 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 −0.3107. 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 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 March 25, 2016, at 10:15 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over

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 ...

and western

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 ...

, seen rising 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 setting over central and eastern North America and western

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 ...

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 ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2016

* A total solar eclipse on March 9. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 18. * An annular solar eclipse on September 1. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 16.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 2012 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 10, 2020

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 2009 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 5, 2023

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 19, 2007 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 2025

Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 2005 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 20, 2027

Lunar Saros 142

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1998 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 3, 2034

Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 14, 1987 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2045

Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 23, 1929 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 23, 2103

Lunar eclipses of 2013–2016

Saros 142

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 149.

References

External links

*
Hermit eclipse: 23 Mar 2016 - Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunar eclipse 2016-03 2016-03 2016 in science March 2016