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	1:51:15
U1	11:48:27
U2	12:51:47
Greatest	3:29:50
U3	14:07:51
U4	15:11:11
P4	16:08:27

A total lunar eclipse will take place on January 31, 2018.

Visibility

It will be visible over north-western North America, the Pacific, Asia, and Australia.

View of earth from moon during greatest eclipse

Visibility map

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 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.

Related eclipses

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2016–2020

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type Viewing		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart
109	2016 Aug 18	Penumbral		114	2017 Feb 11	Penumbral
119	2017 Aug 07	Partial		124	2018 Jan 31	Total
129	2018 Jul 27	Total		134	2019 Jan 21	Total
139	2019 Jul 16	Partial		144	2020 Jan 10	Penumbral
149	2020 Jul 05	Penumbral
Last set	2016 Sep 16			Last set	2016 Mar 23
Next set	2020 Jun 05			Next set	2020 Nov 30

Saros series

It is part of Saros cycle 124.

See also

• List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses

References

External links

• 2018 Jan 31 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
• Hermit eclipse: 2018-01-31

Lunar eclipses Lists of lunar eclipses All Central total eclipses Total penumbral eclipses Historically significant Lunar eclipses by century 20th BCE 19th BCE 18th BCE 17th BCE 16th BCE 15th BCE 14th BCE 13th BCE 12th BCE 11th BCE 10th BCE 9th BCE 8th BCE 7th BCE 6th BCE 5th BCE 4th BCE 3rd BCE 2nd BCE 1st BCE 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th Lunar eclipses by Saros series 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 Partial eclipses 1950–2049 1952 Feb 1952 Aug 1954 Jul 1955 Nov 1956 May 1958 May 1959 Mar 1961 Mar 1961 Aug 1963 Jul 1965 Jun 1970 Feb 1970 Aug 1972 Jul 1973 Dec 1974 Jun 1976 May 1977 Apr 1979 Mar 1981 Jul 1983 Jun 1988 Aug 1990 Aug 1991 Dec 1992 Jun 1994 May 1995 Apr 1997 Mar 1999 Jul 2001 Jul 2005 Oct 2006 Sep 2008 Aug 2009 Dec 2010 Jun 2012 Jun 2013 Apr → 2017 Aug 2019 Jul 2021 Nov 2023 Oct 2024 Sep 2026 Aug 2028 Jan 2028 Jul 2030 Jun 2034 Sep 2035 Aug 2037 Jul 2039 Jun 2039 Nov 2041 May 2041 Nov 2046 Jan 2046 Jul 2048 Jun Total eclipses 1950–2049 1950 Apr 1950 Sep 1953 Jan 1953 Jul 1954 Jan 1956 Nov 1957 May 1957 Nov 1960 Mar 1960 Sep 1963 Dec 1964 Jun 1964 Dec 1967 Apr 1967 Oct 1968 Apr 1968 Oct 1971 Feb 1971 Aug 1972 Jan 1974 Nov 1975 May 1975 Nov 1978 Mar 1978 Sep 1979 Sep 1982 Jan 1982 Jul 1982 Dec 1985 May 1985 Oct 1986 Apr 1986 Oct 1989 Feb 1989 Aug 1990 Feb 1992 Dec 1993 Jun 1993 Nov 1996 Apr 1996 Sep 1997 Sep 2000 Jan 2000 Jul 2001 Jan 2003 May 2003 Nov 2004 May 2004 Oct 2007 Mar 2007 Aug 2008 Feb 2010 Dec 2011 Jun 2011 Dec 2014 Apr 2014 Oct 2015 Apr 2015 Sep → 2018 Jan 2018 Jul 2019 Jan 2021 May 2022 May 2022 Nov 2025 Mar 2025 Sep 2026 Mar 2028 Dec 2029 Jun 2029 Dec 2032 Apr 2032 Oct 2033 Apr 2033 Oct 2036 Feb 2036 Aug 2037 Jan 2040 May 2040 Nov 2043 Mar 2043 Sep 2044 Mar 2044 Sep 2047 Jan 2047 Jul 2048 Jan Penumbral eclipses Partial Previous penumbral: 2013 Oct 18 Next penumbral: → 2016 Mar 23 Total 1963 Jan 09 1981 Jan 20 1988 Mar 03 1999 Jan 31 2006 Mar 14 → 2053 Aug 29 See also Danjon scale Gamma Book Category Commons Portal WikiProject → symbol denotes next eclipse in series