A total

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth ...

took place on Thursday, April 24, 1986, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 1986, the second being on October 17, 1986. The Moon was plunged into darkness for 1 hour, 3 minutes and 34.8 seconds, in a deep total eclipse which saw the Moon 20.217% of its diameter inside the Earth's umbral shadow. The visual effect of this depends on the state of the Earth's atmosphere, but the Moon may have been stained a deep red colour. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 18 minutes and 46.8 seconds in total. The Moon was just 1.2 days before perigee (Perigee on Friday, April 25, 1986), making it 5.3% larger than average.

Visibility

It is seen rising over eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, the eclipse is also seen setting over the whole of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

. The eclipse was seen very visible over the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, it becomes the first lunar eclipse after the

EDSA Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of c ...

since the two lunar eclipses happened between May 4, 1985 and October 28, 1985 and the second followed on October 17, 1986. It also followed on February 20, 1989. Eclipses in 1986 are: Partial

Solar eclipse of April 9, 1986 A partial solar eclipse occurred on April 9, 1986. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandes ...

Total Lunar Eclipse of April 24, 1986 Hybrid

Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986 A hybrid solar eclipse occurred on October 3, 1986. A hybrid eclipse starts and ends as an annular, but is total in the middle around the point of greatest eclipse. Totality occurred for a very short time (calculated at 0.08 seconds) in an area i ...

Total Lunar Eclipse of October 17, 1986 ( October 1986 lunar eclipse) It also followed the passage of

Halley's comet Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the o ...

in the same year. Lunar eclipse from moon-1986Apr24

Related lunar eclipses

Eclipses of 1986

* A partial solar eclipse on April 9. * A total lunar eclipse on April 24. * A hybrid solar eclipse on October 3. * A total lunar eclipse on October 17.

Lunar year series

Saros series

It is the third total lunar eclipse of the series. The next occurrence will be on May 4, 2004. The previous occurrence was April 13, 1968.

Metonic series

This eclipse is the third of four

Metonic cycle The Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris (from grc, ἐννεακαιδεκαετηρίς, from ἐννεακαίδεκα, "nineteen") is a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year. The recu ...

lunar eclipses on the same date, April 23–24, each separated by 19 years:

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 annular solar eclipses of

Solar Saros 138 Saros cycle The saros () is a period of exactly 223 synodic months, approximately 6585.3211 days, or 18 years, 10, 11, or 12 days (depending on the number of leap years), and 8 hours, that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. ...

Notes

External links

* 1986-04 1986 in science April 1986 events {{lunar-eclipse-stub