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, ...

will occur 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 Monday, May 6, 2069, 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 1.3242. It will be a central lunar eclipse, in which part of 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 ...

will pass through the center of 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 ...

. A lunar eclipse occurs when the

moves into the

, 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 2.3 days after

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 May 4, 2069, at 1:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be smaller. This lunar eclipse will be the third of an almost tetrad, with the others being on May 17, 2068 (partial); November 9, 2068 (total); and October 30, 2069 (total). This will be the first central eclipse of

Lunar Saros 132 Saros cycle, Saros series 132 for lunar eclipses occurs at the moon's ascending node, repeating every 18 years 11 and 1/3 days. It contains 71 member events, including 44 umbral lunar eclipses (32 partial lunar eclipses and 12 total lunar eclipses ...

. The Moon will also

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

the bright star

Alpha Librae Alpha Librae (α Librae, abbreviated Alpha Lib, α Lib) is a double star and, despite its 'alpha' designation, it is the second-brightest star system (or star) in the constellation of Libra. The two components are designated α1 Librae ...

as seen from the southern hemisphere a few hours before greatest eclipse.

Visibility

The eclipse will be completely visible over 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 ...

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 the eastern

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 ...

, seen rising 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 ...

and setting over central and eastern North America 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 ...

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 2069

* A partial solar eclipse on April 21. * A total lunar eclipse on May 6. * A partial solar eclipse on May 20. * A partial solar eclipse on October 15. * A total lunar eclipse on October 30.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 17, 2065 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 22, 2073

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 25, 2062 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 17, 2076

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 30, 2060 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 11, 2078

Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 6, 2058 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 2080

Lunar Saros 132

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 26, 2051 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 17, 2087

Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 26, 2040 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 15, 2098

Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 6, 1982 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 7, 2156

Lunar eclipses of 2067–2070

Metonic series

Saros 132

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 139.

Notes

External links

NASA: Lunar Eclipses: Past and Future
** *

*** ttp://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE2001-2100.htmlLunar Eclipses: 2001 to 2100

References

* Bao-Lin Liu, ''Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1500 B.C.-A.D. 3000'', 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lunar eclipse 2069-05 2069-05 2069-05 2069 in science 2069-05