A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Tuesday, August 18, 2054, with an umbral magnitude of 1.3074. 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. Occurring only about 2 hours after apogee (on August 18, 2054, at 6:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be smaller. This lunar eclipse will be the second of an almost tetrad, with the others being on February 22, 2054 (total); February 11, 2055 (total); and August 7, 2055 (partial).
Visibility The eclipse will be completely visible over western North America and the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, seen rising over east Asia and Australia and setting over eastern North America and South America.
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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 2054 A total lunar eclipse on February 22. A partial solar eclipse on March 9. A partial solar eclipse on August 3. A total lunar eclipse on August 18. A partial solar eclipse on September 2.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 30, 2050 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 6, 2058
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 7, 2047 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 29, 2061
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 12, 2045 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 24, 2063
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 19, 2043 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 17, 2065
Lunar Saros 129 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2036 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 28, 2072
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 7, 2025 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 29, 2083
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 18, 1967 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 19, 2141
Lunar eclipses of 2053–2056 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 eclipses on June 27, 2056 and December 22, 2056 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 129 This eclipse is a part of Saros series 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 10, 1351. It contains partial eclipses from September 26, 1531 through May 11, 1892; total eclipses from May 24, 1910 through September 8, 2090; and a second set of partial eclipses from September 20, 2108 through April 26, 2469. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on July 24, 2613. The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 106 minutes, 24 seconds on July 16, 2000. 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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 136.
See also List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links 2054 Aug 18 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC