A penumbral

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, March 3, 1988, the first of two lunar eclipses in 1988, the second being on August 27, 1988. Earlier sources compute this as a 0.3% partial eclipse lasting under 14 minutes, and newest calculations list it as a penumbral eclipse that never enters the umbral shadow. In a rare total penumbral eclipse, the entire Moon was partially shaded by the Earth (though none of it was in complete shadow), and the shading across the Moon should have been quite visible at maximum eclipse. The penumbral phase lasted for 4 hours, 53 minutes and 50.6 seconds in all, though for most of it, the eclipse was extremely difficult or impossible to see. The Moon was 2.2 days after apogee (Apogee on Tuesday, March 1, 1988), making it 6.1% smaller than average. This was a relatively rare

total penumbral lunar eclipse A total penumbral lunar eclipse is a lunar eclipse that occurs when the Moon becomes completely immersed in the penumbral cone of the Earth without touching the umbra. The path for the Moon to pass within the penumbra and outside the umbra is ve ...

with the moon passing entirely within the penumbral shadow without entering the darker umbral shadow.

The tables below contain detailed predictions and additional information on the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 3 March 1988.

Penumbral Magnitude: 1.09076 Umbral Magnitude: -0.00163 Gamma: 0.98855 Saros Series: 113th (62 of 71) Date: 3 March 1988 Greatest Eclipse: 03 Mar 1988 16:12:45.7 UTC (16:13:41.5 TD) Ecliptic Opposition: 03 Mar 1988 16:01:03.9 UTC (16:01:59.8 TD) Equatorial Opposition: 03 Mar 1988 15:09:41.3 UTC (15:10:37.2 TD)

Visibility

The total penumbral lunar eclipse was visible over Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, northwestern North America, seen rising over the

30th meridian east The meridian 30° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Europe, Turkey, Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 30th meridian east forms a ...

and setting over the

150th meridian west The meridian 150° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America (entirely within the State of Alaska), the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. ...

on the Equator. Lunar eclipse from moon-1988Mar03

Relations to other lunar eclipses

Eclipses of 1988

* A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 3. * A total solar eclipse on March 18. * A partial lunar eclipse on August 27. * An annular solar eclipse on September 11.

Saros series

This eclipse is part of

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. One saros period ...

series 113.

Lunar year series

Metonic 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 120 The 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 ...

Notes

External links

* 1988-03 1988-03 1988 in science March 1988 events {{lunar-eclipse-stub