January 2018 lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipse January 31, 2018
Ecliptic north up The moon will pass west to east (right to left) through the Earth's shadow.
Saros (and member)	124 (49 of 74)
Gamma	-0.3014
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality	1:16:04
Partial	3:22:44
Penumbral	5:17:12
Contacts (UTC)
P1	10:51:15
U1	11:48:27
U2	12:51:47
Greatest	13:29:50
U3	14:07:51
U4	15:11:11
P4	16:08:27

A total lunar eclipse will take place on January 31, 2018. The moon appears as supermoon, with perigee being on January 30. Additionally it is the first blue moon eclipse in 2018.

Background

A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (shadow). As the eclipse begins, 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 Earth's atmosphere into its umbra.^[1]

The following simulation shows the approximate appearance of the Moon passing through Earth's shadow. The northern portion of the Moon is closest to the center of the shadow, making it darkest, and most red in appearance.

Overview

Visibility

The Pacific Ocean will be turned toward the moon at the time of the eclipse. Central and eastern Asia (including most of Siberia), Indonesia, New Zealand and most of Australia will get a fine view of this moon show in the evening sky. Heading farther west into western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, the eclipse will already be underway as the moon rises.^[2]

View of earth from moon during greatest eclipse	Visibility map

Timing

Event timing by timezone
Eclipse	HST	AKST	PST	MST	CST	EST	UTC	IST
Zone from UTC	-10h	-9h	-8h	-7h	-6h	-5h	0h	+530h
Penumbral eclipse begins	12:51	1:51	2:51	3:51	4:51	5:51	10:51	16:21
Partial eclipse begins	1:48	2:48	3:48	4:48	5:48	6:48	11:58	17:28
Total eclipse begins	2:52	3:52	4:52	5:52	6:52	----	12:52	18:22
Mid-eclipse	3:30	4:30	5:30	6:30	----	----	13:30	19:00
Total eclipse ends	4:08	5:08	6:08	7:08	----	----	14:08	19:38
Partial eclipse ends	5:11	6:11	7:11	----	----	----	15:11	20:11
Penumbral eclipse end	6:08	7:08	----	----	----	----	16:08	21:38

Along the U.S. West Coast, the total phase begins at 4:51 a.m. PST. The farther east you go, the closer the start of the partial phases will coincide with moonrise. Along the U.S. Atlantic Seaboard, for instance, the moon will have only just begun to enter the darkest part of Earth's shadow, the umbra, at 6:48 a.m. EST when it will disappear from view below the west-northwest horizon. The duration of the total phase is 77 minutes, with the moon tracking through the southern part of the Earth's shadow. So, during totality, the moon's lower limb will appear much brighter than the dark upper limb.^[3]

Related eclipses

The January 2018 lunar eclipse the first ascending node eclipse of the Lunar eclipse series sets from 2016–2020. It is also part of Saros cycle 124.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2016–2020
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type Viewing	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
109	2016 Aug 18	Penumbral	1.56406	114	2017 Feb 11	Penumbral	−1.02548
119	2017 Aug 07	Partial	0.86690	124	2018 Jan 31	Total	−0.30143
129	2018 Jul 27	Total	0.11681	134	2019 Jan 21	Total	0.36842
139	2019 Jul 16	Partial	−0.64300	144	2020 Jan 10	Penumbral	1.07270
149	2020 Jul 05	Penumbral	−1.36387

Last set	2016 Sep 16			Last set	2016 Mar 23

Next set	2020 Jun 05			Next set	2020 Nov 30