July 2018 lunar eclipse

Total lunar eclipse July 27, 2018
Ecliptic north up The moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow.
Saros cycle	129 (38 of 71)
Gamma	+0.1168
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality	1:42:57
Partial	3:54:32
Penumbral	6:13:48
Contacts (UTC)
P1	17:14:49
U1	18:24:27
U2	19:30:15
Greatest	20:21:44
U3	21:13:12
U4	22:19:00
P4	23:28:37

A total lunar eclipse will take place on July 27, 2018. The moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. This will be the first central lunar eclipse since the June 15, 2011 lunar eclipse.

Visibility

It will be completely visible over Western Africa, and Central Asia, seen rising over South America, Eastern Africa, and Europe, and setting over Eastern Asia, and Australia.

View of earth from moon at greatest eclipse
480px 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.

360px

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

Lunar saros cycle series 129, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 11 total lunar eclipses.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 2000 Jul 16, lasting 108 minutes.^[2]	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1351 Jun 10	1513 Sep 15	1910 May 24	1946 Jun 14
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2036 Aug 7	2090 Sep 8	2469 Apr 26	2613 Jul 24

1901–2100
1910 May 24		1928 Jun 3		1946 Jun 14
80px	80px	80px	80px
1964 Jun 25		1982 Jul 6		2000 Jul 16

2018 Jul 27		2036 Aug 7		2054 Aug 18
				80px	80px
2072 Aug 28		2090 Sep 8
80px	80px	80px	80px