A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Thursday, October 30, 2031, with an umbral magnitude of −0.3193. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter will be near the average diameter because it will occur 7.6 days after perigee (on October 22, 2031, at 16:20 UTC) and 6.6 days before apogee (on November 5, 2031, at 21:45 UTC).
Visibility
The eclipse will be completely visible over North America, western South America, and the eastern Pacific Ocean, seen rising over eastern Australia and northeast Asia and setting over eastern South America, west Africa, and western Europe.
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
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.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 2031
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on May 7.
- An annular solar eclipse on May 21.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 5.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on October 30.
- A hybrid solar eclipse on November 14.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 12, 2028
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 19, 2035
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 18, 2024
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 11, 2038
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 25, 2022
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 4, 2040
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 30, 2020
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 29, 2042
Lunar Saros 117
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 18, 2013
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 9, 2049
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 20, 2002
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 9, 2060
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 29, 1944
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 31, 2118
Lunar eclipses of 2031–2034
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The penumbral lunar eclipse on June 5, 2031 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 117
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 117, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on April 3, 1094. It contains partial eclipses from June 29, 1238 through September 23, 1382; total eclipses from October 3, 1400 through June 21, 1815; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 2, 1833 through September 5, 1941. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on May 15, 2356.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 35 at 105 minutes, 43 seconds on April 17, 1707. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 124.
See also
- List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links
- 2031 Oct 30 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
