A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, January 21, 2038, with an umbral magnitude of −0.1127. 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 3.1 days before perigee (on January 24, 2038, at 4:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger. This eclipse will be the first of four penumbral lunar eclipses in 2038, with the others occurring on June 17, July 16, and December 11.
Visibility The eclipse will be completely visible over North and South America, west Africa, and Europe, seen rising over the eastern Pacific Ocean and setting over east Africa and west and central Asia.
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 2038 An annular solar eclipse on January 5. A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 21. A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 17. An annular solar eclipse on July 2. A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 16. A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 11. A total solar eclipse on December 26.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 3, 2034 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 8, 2041
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 9, 2030 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2045
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 2029 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2047
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 20, 2027 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 20, 2048
Lunar Saros 144 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 10, 2020 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 1, 2056
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 2009 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 31, 2066
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 23, 1951 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 21, 2124
Lunar eclipses of 2035–2038 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 17, 2038 and December 11, 2038 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 144 This eclipse is a part of Saros series 144, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on July 29, 1749. It contains partial eclipses from March 28, 2146 through June 23, 2290; total eclipses from July 4, 2308 through January 28, 2651; and a second set of partial eclipses from February 8, 2669 through June 8, 2867. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on September 4, 3011. The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 38 at 104 minutes, 53 seconds on September 7, 2416. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending 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 151.
See also List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links 2038 Jan 21 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC