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August 1988 lunar eclipse

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August 1988 lunar eclipse
Partial eclipse
The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
DateAugust 27, 1988
Gamma−0.8682
Magnitude0.2916
Saros cycle118 (50 of 74)
Partiality112 minutes, 58 seconds
Penumbral262 minutes, 33 seconds
Contacts (UTC)
P18:53:16
U110:08:04
Greatest11:04:33
U412:01:02
P413:15:48

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, August 27, 1988,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.2916. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, 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, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. Occurring only about 7 hours before perigee (on August 17, 1988, at 17:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

Visibility

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The eclipse was completely visible over eastern Australia, western North America, and much of the Pacific Ocean, seen rising over western Australia and the eastern half of Asia and setting over much of North America and South America.[3]

Eclipse details

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Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]

August 27, 1988 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Penumbral Magnitude 1.23803
Umbral Magnitude 0.29159
Gamma −0.86816
Sun Right Ascension 10h25m02.1s
Sun Declination +09°54'10.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'50.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7"
Moon Right Ascension 22h26m40.4s
Moon Declination -10°41'41.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'43.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'23.7"
ΔT 56.1 s

Eclipse season

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See also: Eclipse cycle

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, 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.

Eclipse season of August–September 1988
August 27
Ascending node (full moon)
 September 11
Descending node (new moon)
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 118		 Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 144
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Eclipses in 1988

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Lunar Saros 118

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Inex

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Triad

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Lunar eclipses of 1988–1991

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This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]

The lunar eclipses on June 27, 1991 (penumbral) and December 21, 1991 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1988 to 1991
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Date
Viewing 		Type
Chart 		Gamma Saros Date
Viewing 		Type
Chart 		Gamma
113 1988 Mar 03
 Penumbral
 0.9886 118 1988 Aug 27
 Partial
 −0.8682
123 1989 Feb 20
 Total
0.2935 128 1989 Aug 17
 Total
 −0.1491
133 1990 Feb 09
 Total
 −0.4148 138 1990 Aug 06
 Partial
 0.6374
143 1991 Jan 30
 Penumbral
 −1.0752 148 1991 Jul 26
 Penumbral
 1.4370

Metonic series

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The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

  1. 1988 Mar 03.675 – Partial (113)
  2. 2007 Mar 03.972 – Total (123)
  3. 2026 Mar 03.481 – Total (133)
  4. 2045 Mar 03.320 – Penumbral (143)
  1. 1988 Aug 27.461 – partial (118)
  2. 2007 Aug 28.442 – total (128)
  3. 2026 Aug 28.175 – partial (138)
  4. 2045 Aug 27.578 – penumbral (148)

Saros 118

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 118, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on March 2, 1105. It contains partial eclipses from June 8, 1267 through August 12, 1375; total eclipses from August 22, 1393 through June 22, 1880; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 3, 1898 through September 18, 2024. The series ends at member 73 as a penumbral eclipse on May 7, 2403.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 99 minutes, 22 seconds on April 7, 1754. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[6]

Greatest First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1754 Apr 07, lasting 99 minutes, 22 seconds.[7] Penumbral Partial Total Central
1105 Mar 02
 1267 Jun 08
 1393 Aug 22
 1465 Oct 04
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
1826 May 21
 1880 Jun 22
 2024 Sep 18
 2403 May 07

Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

Tritos series

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This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
1803 Feb 06
(Saros 101) 		1814 Jan 06
(Saros 102) 		1824 Dec 06
(Saros 103) 		1846 Oct 04
(Saros 105)
1857 Sep 04
(Saros 106) 		1868 Aug 03
(Saros 107) 		1879 Jul 03
(Saros 108) 		1890 Jun 03
(Saros 109) 		1901 May 03
(Saros 110)
1912 Apr 01
(Saros 111) 		1923 Mar 03
(Saros 112) 		1934 Jan 30
(Saros 113) 		1944 Dec 29
(Saros 114) 		1955 Nov 29
(Saros 115)
1966 Oct 29
(Saros 116) 		1977 Sep 27
(Saros 117) 		1988 Aug 27
(Saros 118) 		1999 Jul 28
(Saros 119) 		2010 Jun 26
(Saros 120)
2021 May 26
(Saros 121) 		2032 Apr 25
(Saros 122) 		2043 Mar 25
(Saros 123) 		2054 Feb 22
(Saros 124) 		2065 Jan 22
(Saros 125)
2075 Dec 22
(Saros 126) 		2086 Nov 20
(Saros 127) 		2097 Oct 21
(Saros 128) 		2108 Sep 20
(Saros 129) 		2119 Aug 20
(Saros 130)
2130 Jul 21
(Saros 131) 		2141 Jun 19
(Saros 132) 		2152 May 18
(Saros 133) 		2163 Apr 19
(Saros 134) 		2174 Mar 18
(Saros 135)
2185 Feb 14
(Saros 136) 		2196 Jan 15
(Saros 137)

Half-Saros cycle

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A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two solar eclipses of Solar Saros 125.

August 22, 1979 September 2, 1997

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "August 26–27, 1988 Partial Lunar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  3. ^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1988 Aug 27" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1988 Aug 27". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  5. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  6. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Lunar Eclipses of Saros 118". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  7. ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 118
  8. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
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