Total lunar eclipse 15 April 2014 | |
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Lomita, California, 7:44 UTC | |
The Moon passes right to left through the Earth's shadow. | |
Saros (and member) | 122 (56 of 75) |
Gamma | -0.3017 |
Magnitude | 1.2907 |
Duration (hr:mn:sc) | |
Totality | 1:17:48 |
Partial | 3:34:43 |
Penumbral | 5:43:53 |
Contacts (UTC) | |
P1 | 4:53:40 |
U1 | 5:58:19 |
U2 | 7:06:46 |
Greatest | 7:45:39 |
U3 | 8:24:34 |
U4 | 9:33:02 |
P4 | 10:37:33 |
The lunar eclipse occurred in the constellation Virgo, near the star Spica with the planet Mars near, slightly west on the ecliptic. |
A total lunar eclipse took place on 15 April 2014. It was the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2014, and the first in a tetrad (four total lunar eclipses in a series). Subsequent eclipses in the tetrad are those of 8 October 2014, 4 April 2015, and 28 September 2015. Occurring 6.7 days after apogee (Apogee on 8 April 2014), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
The eclipse was visible in the Americas and the Pacific Ocean region, including Australia and New Zealand. This eclipse occurred during the ascending phase of the Moon's orbit, part of lunar saros 122. Mars was near opposition.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (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 (the same effect that causes sunsets to appear reddish) and the refraction of that light by the Earth's atmosphere into its umbra. [1]
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 northern portion of the Moon was closest to the center of the shadow, making it darkest, and most red in appearance.
On 15 April 2014, the Moon passed through the southern part of the Earth's umbral shadow. [2] It was visible over most of the Western Hemisphere, including east Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean, and the Americas. [3] In the western Pacific, the first half of the eclipse occurred before moonrise. In Europe and Africa, the eclipse began just before moonset. [2] Mars, which had just passed its opposition, appeared at magnitude -1.5 about 9.5° northwest of the Moon. [3] [2] [4] [5] Spica was 2° to the west, while Arcturus was 32° north. Saturn was 26° east and Antares 44° southeast. [2]
The Moon entered Earth's penumbral shadow at 4:53:40 UTC and the umbral shadow at 5:58:19. Totality lasted for 1 hour 17.8 minutes, from 7:06:46 to 8:24:34. The moment of greatest eclipse occurred at 7:45:39. At that point, the Moon's zenith was approximately 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) southwest of the Galápagos Islands. The Moon left the umbra shadow at 9:33:02 and the penumbra shadow at 10:37:33. [2]
The peak umbral magnitude was 1.2962, at which moment the northern part of the moon was 1.7 arc-minutes south of the center of Earth's shadow, while the southern part was 40.0 arc-minutes from center. The gamma of the eclipse was -0.3017. [2]
The eclipse was a member of Lunar Saros 122. It was the 56th such eclipse. [2]
Geographic visibility |
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Time Zone adjustments from UTC | +12h | -9h | -8h | -7h | -6h | -5h | -4h | -3h | ||
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NZST | HDT | AKDT | PDT | MDT | CDT PET | EDT BOT | ADT AMST ART | |||
Event | Evening 15 April | Evening 14 April | Morning 15 April | |||||||
P1 | Penumbral begins* | Under Horizon | 7:54 pm | 8:54 pm | 9:54 pm | 10:54 pm | 11:54 pm | 12:54 am | 1:54 am | |
U1 | Partial begins | 5:58 pm | 8:58 pm | 9:58 pm | 10:58 pm | 11:58 pm | 12:58 am | 1:58 am | 2:58 am | |
U2 | Total begins | 7:07 pm | 10:07 pm | 11:07 pm | 12:07 am | 1:07 am | 2:07 am | 3:07 am | 4:07 am | |
Mid-eclipse | 7:46 pm | 10:46 pm | 11:46 pm | 12:46 am | 1:46 am | 2:46 am | 3:46 am | 4:46 am | ||
U3 | Total ends | 8:25 pm | 11:25 pm | 12:25 am | 1:25 am | 2:25 am | 3:25 am | 4:25 am | 5:25 am | |
U4 | Partial ends | 9:33 pm | 12:33 am | 1:33 am | 2:33 am | 3:33 am | 4:33 am | 5:33 am | 6:33 am | |
P4 | Penumbral ends | 10:38 pm | 1:38 am | 2:38 am | 3:38 am | 4:38 am | 5:38 am | 6:38 am | Set |
* The penumbral phase of the eclipse changes the appearance of the Moon only slightly and is generally not noticeable. [6]
[7]
| The timing of total lunar eclipses are determined by its contacts:
Many museums and observatories planned special events for the eclipse. The United States National Park Service sponsored events at Great Basin National Park and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. [8] The University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy held events at two locations on the islands. [9] The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California streamed the eclipse live on the Internet. [3]
NASA hosted two live question-and-answer sessions online. The first happened roughly 12 hours before the eclipse via Reddit's Ask Me Anything. The second was a web chat hosted on NASA's site just before the eclipse began. NASA also streamed the eclipse live on their website. [10] NASA TV provided 3 hours of live coverage beginning at 2 a.m. EDT. [11]
Starting in 2008, Christian pastors John Hagee and Mark Biltz began teaching "blood moon prophecies": Biltz said the Second Coming of Jesus would occur at the end of the tetrad that began with the April 2014 eclipse, while Hagee said only that the tetrad is a sign of something significant. [12] The idea gained popular media attention in the United States, and prompted a response from the scientific radio show Earth & Sky . [3] [13] According to Christian Today , only a "small group of Christians" saw the eclipse as having religious significance, despite the attention. [14]
The 15 April 2014 eclipse was the first eclipse in a tetrad; that is, four consecutive total eclipses with no partial eclipses in between. There will be another eclipse every six lunar cycles during the tetrad – on 8 October 2014, 4 April 2015, and 28 September 2015. [3] The lunar year series repeats after 12 cycles, or 354 days, causing a date shift when compared to the solar calendar. This shift means the Earth's shadow will move about 11 degrees west in each subsequent eclipse.
This tetrad started during the ascending node of the Moon's orbit. It is the first tetrad since the 2003–04 series, which started in May. The next series will be from 2032 to 2033, starting in April.
Lunar eclipse series sets from 2013–2016 | ||||||||
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Ascending node | Descending node | |||||||
Saros | Viewing date | Type | Gamma | Saros | Viewing date | Type | Gamma | |
112 | 2013 Apr 25 | Partial | −1.0121 | 117 | 2013 Oct 18 | Penumbral | 1.1508 | |
122 | 2014 Apr 15 | Total | −0.3017 | 127 | 2014 Oct 08 | Total | 0.3827 | |
132 | 2015 Apr 04 | Total | 0.4460 | 137 | 2015 Sep 28 | Total | −0.3296 | |
142 | 2016 Mar 23 | Penumbral | 1.1592 | 147 | 2016 Sep 16 | Penumbral | −1.0549 | |
Last set | 2013 May 25 | Last set | 2012 Nov 28 | |||||
Next set | 2017 Feb 11 | Next set | 2016 Aug 18 |
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). [15] This lunar eclipse is related to two hybrid total/annualar solar eclipses of solar saros 129.
8 April 2005 | 20 April 2023 |
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A total lunar eclipse took place on 3 March 2007, the first of two eclipses in 2007. The Moon entered the penumbral shadow at 20:18 UTC, and the umbral shadow at 21:30 UTC. The total phase lasted between 22:44 UTC and 23:58 UTC with a distinctive brick-red shade. The Moon left the umbra shadow at 01:11 UTC and left the penumbra shadow at 02:24 UTC 2007-03-04. The second lunar eclipse of 2007 occurred on 28 August.
A total lunar eclipse occurred on 28 August 2007, lasting just over 90 minutes. The Moon entered the Earth's penumbra at 7:53:40 UTC. The first partial phase began in earnest at 8:51:16 UTC when the Moon entered the Earth's umbra. It exited the penumbra at 13:20:57 UTC.
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A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node on 27 July 2018. The Moon passed through the center of Earth's shadow in what was the first central lunar eclipse since 15 June 2011. It was also the second total lunar eclipse in 2018, after the one on 31 January. It was the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century, but not the longest in the 3rd millennium. The longest total lunar eclipse of the 3rd millennium will occur on May 12, 2264, lasting 106 minutes and 13.2 seconds, which will be the longest total lunar eclipse since 2000, and the longest one until 3107.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Thursday, April 4, 1996, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 1996, the other being on Friday, September 27. The Moon passed through the center of the Earth's shadow.
A partial lunar eclipse took place on Saturday, June 25, 1983, the first of two lunar eclipses in 1983 with an umbral eclipse magnitude of 0.33479. A partial lunar eclipse happens when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Full Moon, but they are not precisely aligned. Only part of the Moon's visible surface moves into the dark part of the Earth's shadow. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves between the Sun and Moon but the three celestial bodies do not form a straight line in space. When that happens, a small part of the Moon's surface is covered by the darkest, central part of the Earth's shadow, called the umbra. The rest of the Moon is covered by the outer part of the Earth's shadow called the penumbra. The Earth's shadow on the moon was clearly visible in this eclipse, with 33% of the Moon in shadow; the partial eclipse lasted for 2 hours and 15 minutes.
A total lunar eclipse occurred on 31 January 2018. The Moon was near its perigee on 30 January and as such may be described as a "supermoon", when the Moon's distance from the Earth is less than 360,000 km. The previous supermoon lunar eclipse was in September 2015.
A partial lunar eclipse occurred on 19 November 2021. The eclipse occurred towards a micromoon. This was the longest partial lunar eclipse since 18 February 1440, and the longest until 8 February, 2669; however, many eclipses, including the November 2022 lunar eclipse, have a longer period of umbral contact at next to 3 hours 40 minutes. It was often referred to as a "Beaver Blood Moon" although not technically fulfilling the criteria for a true blood moon (totality).
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A partial lunar eclipse will take place on Friday 28 August 2026. The moon will be almost be inside the umbra, but not quite be contained within the umbral shadow at greatest eclipse.
A total lunar eclipse took place on Monday, April 24, 1967, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 1967, the second being on October 18, 1967.
A partial lunar eclipse took place on Saturday, July 6, 1963 with an umbral eclipse magnitude of 0.70602. The Moon was strikingly shadowed in this deep partial eclipse which lasted 3 hours exactly, with 71% of the Moon in darkness at maximum. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves between the Sun and Moon but the three celestial bodies do not form a straight line in space. When that happens, a small part of the Moon's surface is covered by the darkest, central part of the Earth's shadow, called the umbra. The rest of the Moon is covered by the outer part of the Earth's shadow called the penumbra. It was the second of three lunar eclipses in 1963, the first was a penumbral lunar eclipse on January 9, 1963 and the third and last was on December 30, 1963.
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 blood moon prophecies were a series of prophecies by Christian preachers John Hagee and Mark Biltz, related to a series of four full moons in 2014 and 2015. The prophecies stated that a tetrad which began with the April 2014 lunar eclipse was the beginning of the end times as described in the Bible in the Book of Joel, Acts 2:20, and Revelation 6:12. The tetrad ended with the lunar eclipse on September 27–28, 2015.