October 2014 lunar eclipse


A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, 8 October 2014, with an umbral magnitude of 1.1670. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 2.2 days after perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
This lunar eclipse is the second of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on April 15, 2014; April 4, 2015; and September 28, 2015.

Background

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra. 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. The Moon appears to be reddish because of Rayleigh scattering 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 was near opposition during the eclipse, just over 1° from the eclipsed Moon. Shining at magnitude 5.7, Uranus should have been bright enough to identify in binoculars. Due to parallax, the position of Uranus relative to the Moon varied significantly depending on the viewing position on the surface of Earth.

Visibility and appearance

The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, eastern Australia, the Pacific Ocean, and western North America, seen rising over Asia and much of Australia and setting over North and South America.
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, 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.
The MESSENGER spacecraft from orbit at the planet Mercury which was 107 million kilometers away from Earth at the time also observed the eclipse, making it the first lunar eclipse in history to be observed from another planet.

Visibility map

Timing

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

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
ParameterValue
Penumbral Magnitude2.14667
Umbral Magnitude1.16698
Gamma0.38267
Sun Right Ascension12h55m34.3s
Sun Declination-05°56'30.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'00.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension00h55m07.2s
Moon Declination+06°18'26.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'20.3"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°59'57.9"
ΔT67.5 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
October 8
Descending node
October 23
Ascending node
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 127		Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 153

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2014

Saros 127

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. This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of solar saros 134.
October 3, 2005October 14, 2023