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 ascending node of orbit on Thursday, October 28, 2004, with an umbral magnitude of 1.3100. 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, 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 5.4 days before apogee (on November 2, 2004, at 13:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller. This lunar eclipse is the last of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on May 16, 2003; November 9, 2004; and May 4, 2004.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible 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 ...

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 ...

, and

western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

, seen rising over western North America and the

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

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 ...

eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

, 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 ...

Gallery

Image:Lunar-eclipse-2004.jpg, Timelapse photo from

Hayward, California Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California, United States, in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area, and the third largest in ...

Image:US Navy 041027-N-9500T-001 The moon turns red and orange during a total lunar eclipse.jpg, Ault Field, Washington, 2:29 UT Image:FrauBucher - redmoonTrio espenak full (by).jpg, Dunkirk, Maryland, 3:03 UT Image:Lunar_eclipse_28102004.jpg, From Kiuruvesi, Finland, 3:21 UT Image:Marshmallow - DSC 0176 (by).jpg,

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

End of totality, 3:43 UT Image:Ckindel - Lunar Eclipse Oct 27, 2004 (by-sa).jpg,

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

, 3:51 UT Image:J.C. Rojas - Lunar Eclipse (by-sa).jpg, Timelapse photo from A Coruña, Spain

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.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2004

* A partial solar eclipse on April 19. * A total lunar eclipse on May 4. * A partial solar eclipse on October 14. * A total lunar eclipse on October 28.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 2001 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 16, 2008

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 16, 1997 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 10, 2011

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 24, 1995 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 2013

Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 29, 1993 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 28, 2015

Lunar Saros 136

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 17, 1986 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 8, 2022

Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 18, 1975 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 8, 2033

Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 28, 1917 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 29, 2091

Lunar eclipses of 2002–2005

Metonic series

Saros 136

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 solar eclipses of Solar Saros 143.

Notes

External links

* NASA
Total Lunar Eclipse of Oct. 27, 2004
**

* *

Photo by Wade B Clark Jr. near Lyman, Washington, USA

Spaceweather.com: Lunar eclipse gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunar eclipse 2004-10 21st-century lunar eclipses, 2004-10 2004 in science October 2004