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 ...

will take place on May 6, 2069. The eclipse will be a dark one with the southern tip of the Moon passing through the center of the Earth's shadow. This is the first central eclipse of Saros series 132. It is the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2069, the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

occurring at the descending node of the Moon's orbit will be on October 30, which will also be a central total eclipse. It is the third of an ''almost tetrad'', the others being 17 May 2068 (P), 9 Nov 2068 (T) and 30 October 2069 (T).

Visibility

The eclipse will be visible after sunset over Australia and begin before sunset over far eastern Asia, and be seen in the predawn hours over western North and South America. The Moon will also

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

the bright star Alpha Librae as seen from the southern hemisphere a few hours before greatest eclipse.

Related lunar eclipses

Lunar eclipses are related by many different eclipse cycles. The Saros cycle (18 years and 10 days) repeats the most consistently due three coinciding periods, and continue over 70 events (1200+ years). Eclipses are identified by a Saros number and a member index within each series. The lunar year (354 days) and Metonic cycles (19 years) are short period last only 8 to 10 events. The Metonic cycle is equal to one Saros cycle plus one lunar year, and so the two series progress in parallel. The

Inex The inex is an eclipse cycle of 10,571.95 days (about 29 years minus 20 days). The cycle was first described in modern times by Crommelin in 1901, but was named by George van den Bergh who studied it in detail half a century later. It has been sugg ...

cycle (29 years minus 20 days) can last tens of thousands of years, so long that long perturbations in the Moon's path must be taken into account for prediction. Also the eclipse qualities are less inconsistent because the Moon is at different significantly positions in its elliptical orbit in sequential events. Similarly for the shorter

Tritos The tritos is an eclipse cycle of 3,986.628 days (about 10 years, 11 months). It corresponds to: *135 synodic months *146.50144 draconic months *11.50144 eclipse years (23 eclipse seasons) *144.68135 anomalistic months. The length of the tritos ...

cycle (10 years and 31 days), repeats less consistently for the same reason.

Lunar year series

This eclipse is the third of four lunar year eclipses occurring at the Moon's ascending node. The lunar year series repeats after 12 lunations or 354 days (Shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, the Earth's shadow will be about 11 degrees west in sequential events.

Metonic series

Saros series

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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 139.

Notes

External links

NASA: Lunar Eclipses: Past and Future
** *

*** ttp://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE2001-2100.htmlLunar Eclipses: 2001 to 2100

References

* Bao-Lin Liu, ''Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1500 B.C.-A.D. 3000'', 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lunar eclipse 2069-05 2069-05 2069-05 2069 in science 2069-05