May 1994 lunar eclipse
| Partial eclipse | |||||||||||||
 The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left | |||||||||||||
| Date | May 25, 1994 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | 0.8933 | ||||||||||||
| Magnitude | 0.2432 | ||||||||||||
| Saros cycle | 140 (24 of 80) | ||||||||||||
| Partiality | 104 minutes, 36 seconds | ||||||||||||
| Penumbral | 261 minutes, 12 seconds | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, May 25, 1994,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.2432. 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 23.5 hours after perigee (on May 24, 1994, at 3:55 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over eastern North America, South America, west Africa, and Antarctica, seen rising over western North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean and setting over much of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.[3]
|
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Penumbral Magnitude | 1.19408 |
| Umbral Magnitude | 0.24318 |
| Gamma | 0.89334 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 04h06m48.5s |
| Sun Declination | +20°53'35.0" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'47.5" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 16h07m09.9s |
| Moon Declination | -19°59'22.3" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'36.4" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'56.9" |
| ΔT | 60.3 s |
Eclipse season
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.
| May 10 Descending node (new moon) |
May 25 Ascending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 128 |
Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 140 |
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 1994
- An annular solar eclipse on May 10.
- A partial lunar eclipse on May 25.
- A total solar eclipse on November 3.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 18.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 1990
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1998
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 14, 1987
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 5, 2001
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 19, 1985
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 25, 1983
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 2005
Lunar Saros 140
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 13, 1976
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 2012
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 14, 1965
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 5, 2023
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 25, 1907
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 25, 2081
Lunar eclipses of 1991–1994
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 penumbral lunar eclipses on January 30, 1991 and July 26, 1991 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Lunar eclipse series sets from 1991 to 1994 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||||
| Saros | Date Viewing |
Type Chart |
Gamma | Saros | Date Viewing |
Type Chart |
Gamma | |
| 110 | 1991 Jun 27
|
Penumbral
|
−1.4064 | 115 | 1991 Dec 21
|
Partial
|
0.9709 | |
| 120 | 1992 Jun 15
|
Partial
|
−0.6289 | 125 | 1992 Dec 09
|
Total
|
0.3144 | |
| 130 | 1993 Jun 04
|
Total
|
0.1638 | 135 | 1993 Nov 29
|
Total
|
−0.3994 | |
| 140 | 1994 May 25
|
Partial
|
0.8933 | 145 | 1994 Nov 18
|
Penumbral
|
−1.1048 | |
Saros 140
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 140, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 77 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on September 25, 1597. It contains partial eclipses from May 3, 1958 through July 17, 2084; total eclipses from July 30, 2102 through May 21, 2589; and a second set of partial eclipses from June 2, 2607 through August 7, 2715. The series ends at member 77 as a penumbral eclipse on January 6, 2968.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 38 at 98 minutes, 36 seconds on November 4, 2264. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[6]
| Greatest | First | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2264 Nov 04, lasting 98 minutes, 36 seconds.[7] | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| 1597 Sep 25 |
1958 May 03
|
2102 Jul 30 |
2156 Aug 30 | |
| Last | ||||
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
| 2535 Apr 19 |
2589 May 21 |
2715 Aug 07 |
2968 Jan 06 | |
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.
| Series members 13–34 occur between 1801 and 2200: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 14 | 15 | |||
| 1814 Feb 04 | 1832 Feb 16 | 1850 Feb 26 | |||
| 16 | 17 | 18 | |||
| 1868 Mar 08 | 1886 Mar 20 | 1904 Mar 31 | |||
|
| ||||
| 19 | 20 | 21 | |||
| 1922 Apr 11 | 1940 Apr 22 | 1958 May 03 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 22 | 23 | 24 | |||
| 1976 May 13 | 1994 May 25 | 2012 Jun 04 | |||
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 25 | 26 | 27 | |||
| 2030 Jun 15 | 2048 Jun 26 | 2066 Jul 07 | |||
|
|
|
|
||
| 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
| 2084 Jul 17 | 2102 Jul 30 | 2120 Aug 09 | |||
| 31 | 32 | 33 | |||
| 2138 Aug 20 | 2156 Aug 30 | 2174 Sep 11 | |||
| 34 | |||||
| 2192 Sep 21 | |||||
Tritos series
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 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1808 Nov 03 (Saros 123) |
1819 Oct 03 (Saros 124) |
1830 Sep 02 (Saros 125) |
1841 Aug 02 (Saros 126) |
1852 Jul 01 (Saros 127) | |||||
| 1863 Jun 01 (Saros 128) |
1874 May 01 (Saros 129) |
1885 Mar 30 (Saros 130) |
1896 Feb 28 (Saros 131) |
1907 Jan 29 (Saros 132) | |||||
|
| ||||||||
| 1917 Dec 28 (Saros 133) |
1928 Nov 27 (Saros 134) |
1939 Oct 28 (Saros 135) |
1950 Sep 26 (Saros 136) |
1961 Aug 26 (Saros 137) | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1972 Jul 26 (Saros 138) |
1983 Jun 25 (Saros 139) |
1994 May 25 (Saros 140) |
2005 Apr 24 (Saros 141) |
2016 Mar 23 (Saros 142) | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2027 Feb 20 (Saros 143) |
2038 Jan 21 (Saros 144) |
2048 Dec 20 (Saros 145) |
2059 Nov 19 (Saros 146) |
2070 Oct 19 (Saros 147) | |||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2081 Sep 18 (Saros 148) |
2092 Aug 17 (Saros 149) |
2103 Jul 19 (Saros 150) |
2114 Jun 18 (Saros 151) |
2125 May 17 (Saros 152) | |||||
| 2136 Apr 16 (Saros 153) |
2169 Jan 13 (Saros 156) |
||||||||
| 2190 Nov 12 (Saros 158) | |||||||||
Half-Saros cycle
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 147.
| May 19, 1985 | May 31, 2003 |
|---|---|
|
|
See also
References
- ^ "May 24–25, 1994 Partial Lunar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
- ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
- ^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1994 May 25" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
- ^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1994 May 25". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "NASA - Catalog of Lunar Eclipses of Saros 140". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
- ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 140
- ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
External links
- Saros cycle 140
- 1994 May 25 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
