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 October 27–28, 2004, the second of two total lunar eclipses in 2004, the first being on May 4, 2004. It was the first lunar eclipse to take place during a World Series game, which when seen from

Busch Memorial Stadium Busch Memorial Stadium, also known as Busch Stadium II, was a multi-purpose sports facility in St. Louis, Missouri, that operated for 40 years, from 1966 through 2005. The stadium served as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals National League b ...

in St, Louis, Missouri, provided a surreal sight on the night the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

won their first

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

in 86 years to end the

Curse of the Bambino The Curse of the Bambino was a superstitious sports curse in Major League Baseball (MLB) derived from the 86-year championship drought of the Boston Red Sox between and . The superstition was named after Babe Ruth, colloquially known as " Th ...

. Occurring 5.6 days before apogee (Apogee on November 2, 2004), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller. The moon was 10.1 days after perigee and 5.6 days before apogee.

Visibility

This eclipse was completely visible from all of North and South America, and visible from most of Europe and Africa. Lunar eclipse from moon-2004Oct28

Relation to other lunar eclipses

Eclipse season An eclipse season is the period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Moon's tilted orbital plane ( tilted five degrees to the Earth's orbital plane), just as Earth's wea ...

This is the second eclipse this season. First eclipse this season: 14 October 2004 Partial Solar Eclipse

Eclipses of 2004

* A partial solar eclipse on April 19. * A total lunar eclipse on May 4. * A partial solar eclipse on October 14. * A total lunar eclipse on October 28.

Lunar year series

It is the third of four

lunar year A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Greg ...

cycles, repeating every 354 days.

Saros series

This eclipse was a part of Saros cycle 136. The next occurrence will be on November 8, 2022.

Solar Saros 143 Saros cycle series 143 for solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an ...

interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series. The greatest eclipse will occur on April 21, 2293, lasting 101 minutes and 23.5 seconds. The last total lunar eclipse will be on July 7, 2419 and the last partial lunar eclipse on October 3, 2563. The final lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 136 will be on June 1, 2960.

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, October 28–29, 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 solar eclipses of

Photo gallery

Image:Lunar-eclipse-2004.jpg, Timelapse photo from

Hayward, California Hayward () is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda Coun ...

Image:US Navy 041027-N-9500T-001 The moon turns red and orange during a total lunar eclipse.jpg,

Ault Field, Washington Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) is a naval air station of the United States Navy located on two pieces of land near Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington. The main portion of the base, Ault Field, is about t ...

, 2:29 UT Image:FrauBucher - redmoonTrio espenak full (by).jpg,

Dunkirk, Maryland Dunkirk is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,521 at the 2010 census. Geography Dunkirk is located in northwestern Calvert County at (38.713499, −76.670070). Its western border is t ...

, 3:03 UT Image:Lunar_eclipse_28102004.jpg, From

Kiuruvesi Kiuruvesi is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland located in the Northern Savonia regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is wa ...

, Finland, 3:21 UT Image:Marshmallow - DSC 0176 (by).jpg,

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

End of totality, 3:43 UT Image:Ckindel - Lunar Eclipse Oct 27, 2004 (by-sa).jpg,

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as a s ...

, 3:51 UT Image:J.C. Rojas - Lunar Eclipse (by-sa).jpg, Timelapse photo from

A Coruña, Spain A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

Notes

External links

* NASA
Total Lunar Eclipse of Oct. 27, 2004
**

* *

Photo by Wade B Clark Jr. near Lyman, Washington, USA

Spaceweather.com: Lunar eclipse gallery
21st-century lunar eclipses, 2004-10 2004 in science October 2004 events {{lunar-eclipse-stub