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 Wednesday 8 October 2014. It is the second of two total lunar eclipses in 2014, and the second in a ''tetrad'' (four total lunar eclipses in series). Other eclipses in the tetrad are those of 15 April 2014, 4 April 2015, and 28 September 2015. Occurring only 2.1 days after perigee (Perigee on 6 October 2014), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger, 1960.6 arcseconds (32 arcminutes, 40.6 arcseconds). This is the 42nd member of Lunar Saros 127. The previous event is the

September 1996 lunar eclipse A total lunar eclipse took place on Friday, September 27, 1996, the second of two lunar eclipses in 1996, the first being on April 1996 lunar eclipse, Thursday, April 4. This is the 41st member of Lunar Saros 127. The previous event is the Septem ...

. The next event is

October 2032 lunar eclipse A total lunar eclipse will take place on Monday, October 18, 2032. This is the 43rd member of Lunar Saros 127. The previous event is the October 2014 lunar eclipse. The next event is the October 2050 lunar eclipse. Visibility Related lunar ec ...

Visibility and appearance

The eclipse was visible in its entirety over the Northern Pacific. Viewers in North America experienced the eclipse after midnight on Wednesday, 8 October, and the eclipse was visible from 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 ...

, Western Pacific, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and Eastern Asia after sunset on the evening of 8 October. Many areas of North America experienced a selenelion, able to see both the sun and the eclipsed moon at the same time.

Background

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's

umbra The umbra, penumbra and antumbra are three distinct parts of a shadow, created by any light source after impinging on an opaque object. Assuming no diffraction, for a collimated beam (such as a point source) of light, only the umbra is cast. Th ...

(shadow). As the eclipse begins, the Earth's shadow first darkens the Moon slightly. Then, the shadow begins to "cover" part of the Moon, turning it a dark red-brown color (typically - the color can vary based on atmospheric conditions). The Moon appears to be reddish because of

Rayleigh scattering Rayleigh scattering ( ), named after the 19th-century British physicist Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt), is the predominantly elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the ...

(the same effect that causes sunsets to appear reddish) and the refraction of that light by the Earth's atmosphere into its umbra. The following simulation shows the approximate appearance of the Moon passing through the earth's shadow. The Moon's brightness is exaggerated within the umbral shadow. The southern portion of the Moon was closest to the center of the shadow, making it darkest, and most red in appearance. : The planet

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars (mythology), Mars), grandfather ...

was near

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

(opposition on 7 October) during the eclipse, just over 1° from the eclipsed Moon. Shining at

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

5.7, Uranus should have been bright enough to identify in binoculars. Due to

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

, the position of Uranus relative to the Moon varied significantly depending on the viewing position on the surface of Earth.

Gallery

Lunar_eclipse_oct_8_2014_Minneapolis_4_46am.png, Minneapolis, MN, 9:46 UTC, triple exposure Lunar eclipse, October 2014, Valdosta, Georgia.JPG, Before the beginning of total eclipse,

Valdosta, GA Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, United States. As of 2019, Valdosta had an estimated population of 56,457. Valdosta is the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in 2021 had a ...

, 10:02 UTC Lunar eclipse of 2014 October 8 (SX50 HS).JPG, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 10:26 UTC 10-8-14 Lunar Eclipse.JPG,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, 10:39 UTC Lunar eclipse of 2014 October 8 (X7i).JPG, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 10:41 UTC Lunar eclipse October 2014 Minneapolis Tom Ruen2.jpg, The eclipse with

in Minneapolis, 10:46 UTC Lunar Eclipse October 8 2014.jpeg, After the end of total eclipse, Santa Clara County, CA, 11:28 UTC Lunar Eclipse in Hefei.JPG, Partial phase of the eclipse, Hefei, China, 12:18 UTC Moon set near Minneapolis, 8 Oct 2014.jpg, Minneapolis, MN, 12:24 UTC

Timing

† The Moon was not visible during this part of the eclipse in this time zone.

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 2014

* A total lunar eclipse on 15 April. * A non-central annular solar eclipse on 29 April. * A total lunar eclipse on 8 October. * A partial solar eclipse on 23 October. The eclipse is the one of four total lunar eclipses in a short-lived series at the descending node of the Moon's orbit. The

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 ...

series repeats after 12

lunation In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona, Middle Eastern, and Europ ...

s, or 354 days (shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, Earth's shadow will be about 11° west in sequential events.

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 134 Saros cycle series 134 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 e ...

Saros series

Lunar saros series 127, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 72 lunar eclipse events including 54 umbral lunar eclipses (38 partial lunar eclipses and 16 total lunar eclipses).

Solar Saros 134 Saros cycle series 134 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 e ...

interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Tzolkinex

* Preceded: Lunar eclipse of August 28, 2007 * Followed: Lunar eclipse of November 19, 2021

References

*
Wake Up to October 8th's Total Lunar Eclipse
(SkyandTelescope.com)
Hermit eclipse: 2014-10-08

Total Lunar Eclipse, October 2014 InfoSite - Mattastro

Animation of the October 8 2014 eclipse
at shadowandsubstance.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lunar eclipse 2014-10 2014-10 2014 in science October 2014 events