April 2014 lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, April 15, 2014, with an umbral magnitude of 1.2918. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 6.9 days after apogee (on April 8, 2014, at 10:50 UTC) and 7.6 days before perigee (on April 22, 2014, at 20:20 UTC).

This lunar eclipse is the first of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on October 8, 2014; April 4, 2015; and September 28, 2015.

Background

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.

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.

Description

On April 15, 2014, the Moon passed through the southern part of the Earth's umbral shadow. It was visible over most of the western hemisphere, including eastern Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean, and the Americas. In the western Pacific, the first half of the eclipse occurred before moonrise. In Europe and Africa, the eclipse began just before moonset. Mars, which had just passed its opposition, appeared at magnitude -1.5 about 9.5° northwest of the Moon. Spica was 2° to the west, while Arcturus was 32° north. Saturn was 26° east and Antares 44° southeast.

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 southwest of the Galápagos Islands. The Moon left the umbral shadow at 9:33:02 and the penumbral shadow at 10:37:33.

The peak umbral magnitude was 1.29177, 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.

The eclipse was a member of Lunar Saros 122. It was the 56th such eclipse.

Hourly motion shown right to leftThe Moon's hourly motion across the Earth's shadow in the constellation of Virgo, near the star Spica with the planet Mars near, slightly west on the ecliptic. Visibility map

Timing + Local times of contacts Time Zoneadjustments fromUTC +12h -9h -8h -7h -6h -5h -4h -3h NZST HDT AKDT PDT MDT CDTPET EDTBOT ADTAMSTARTEventEvening 15 AprilEvening 14 AprilMorning 15 AprilP1 Penumbral begins* Under Horizon 7:54 pm 8:54 pm 9:54 pm 10:54 pm 11:54 pm 12:54 am 1:54 amU1 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 amU2 Total begins 7:07 pm 10:07 pm 11:07 pm12:07 am1:07 am2:07 am3:07 am4:07 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 amU3 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 amU4 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 amP4 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.

Viewing events 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. The University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy held events at two locations on the islands. The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California streamed the eclipse live on the Internet.

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. NASA TV provided 3 hours of live coverage beginning at 2 a.m. EDT.

Gallery

Relation to prophecy

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. The idea gained popular media attention in the United States, and prompted a response from the scientific radio show Earth & Sky. According to Christian Today, only a "small group of Christians" saw the eclipse as having religious significance, despite the attention.

Eclipse details Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

+April 15, 2014 Lunar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Penumbral Magnitude 2.31934 Umbral Magnitude 1.29177 Gamma −0.30174 Sun Right Ascension 01h33m40.0s Sun Declination +09°46'27.6" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'56.6" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 13h33m21.1s Moon Declination -10°02'59.8" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'30.9" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°56'56.4" ΔT 67.4 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) 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.

+ Eclipse season of April 2014 April 15Ascending node (full moon) April 29Descending node (new moon) Total lunar eclipseLunar Saros 122 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 148

Related eclipses Eclipses in 2014 A total lunar eclipse on April 15. A non-central annular solar eclipse on April 29. A total lunar eclipse on October 8. A partial solar eclipse on October 23.

Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 26, 2010 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 31, 2018

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2007 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021

Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023

Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 16, 2003 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 14, 2025

Lunar Saros 122 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1996 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 25, 2032

Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 4, 1985 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 25, 2043

Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 15, 1927 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 14, 2101

Lunar eclipses of 2013–2016

Saros 122

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 (a half saros).Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros This lunar eclipse is related to two hybrid total/annualar solar eclipses of solar saros 129.

April 8, 2005April 20, 2023

April 2014 lunar eclipse

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