August 1998 lunar eclipse

August 1998 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	August 8, 1998
Gamma	1.4876
Magnitude	−0.8637
Saros cycle	109 (72 of 73)
Penumbral	96 minutes, 25 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	1:36:50
Greatest	2:24:53
P4	3:13:15
	← March 1998 September 1998 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Saturday, August 8, 1998,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.8637. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon's near side passes into the Earth's penumbra. 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. Occurring about 3.4 days before perigee (on August 11, 1998, at 12:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over eastern and central North America, South America, Africa, much of Europe, and Antarctica, seen rising over western North America and setting over eastern Europe and the Middle East.^[3]

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.^[4]

August 8, 1998 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.12064
Umbral Magnitude	−0.86370
Gamma	1.48757
Sun Right Ascension	09h11m18.0s
Sun Declination	+16°13'41.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'46.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	21h10m04.5s
Moon Declination	-14°48'01.2"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'01.4"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°58'48.5"
ΔT	63.2 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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.

Eclipse season of August–September 1998
August 8 Descending node (full moon)	August 22 Ascending node (new moon)	September 6 Descending node (full moon)

Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 109	Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 135	Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 147

Related eclipses

Triad

Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 8, 2085

Lunar eclipses of 1998–2002

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1998–2002
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
109	1998 Aug 08	penumbral	1.4876	114	1999 Jan 31	penumbral	−1.0190
119	1999 Jul 28	partial	0.7863	124	2000 Jan 21	total	−0.2957
129	2000 Jul 16	total	0.0302	134	2001 Jan 09	total	0.3720
139	2001 Jul 05	partial	−0.7287	144	2001 Dec 30	penumbral	1.0732
149	2002 Jun 24	penumbral	−1.4440

Last set	1998 Sep 06			Last set	1998 Mar 13

Next set	2002 May 26			Next set	2002 Nov 20

Saros 109

According to some sources, this lunar eclipse was the final member of Saros series 109. According to other sources, the next event in the series occurred on August 18, 2016. The previous occurrence was on July 27, 1980.