A partial lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Monday, January 22, 2046, with an umbral magnitude of 0.0550. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in 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 1.1 days before perigee (on January 23, 2046, at 14:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger.
Visibility The eclipse will be completely visible over Australia, east and north Asia, and northwestern North America, seen rising over eastern Europe and west, central, and south Asia and setting over much of North America.
Eclipse details Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar 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 2046 A partial lunar eclipse on January 22. An annular solar eclipse on February 5. A partial lunar eclipse on July 18. A total solar eclipse on August 2.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 5, 2042 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 9, 2049
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 11, 2038 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 4, 2053
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 16, 2037 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 27, 2055
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 22, 2035 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 22, 2056
Lunar Saros 115 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 12, 2028 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 2, 2064
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 11, 2017 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 2, 2075
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1959 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 23, 2132
Lunar eclipses of 2046–2049 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 May 17, 2049 and November 9, 2049 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 115 This eclipse is a part of Saros series 115, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on April 21, 1000. It contains partial eclipses from July 6, 1126 through September 30, 1270; total eclipses from October 11, 1288 through July 20, 1739; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 30, 1757 through February 13, 2082. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on June 13, 2280. The longest duration of totality was produced by member 36 at 99 minutes, 47 seconds on May 15, 1631. 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 122.
See also List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links 2046 Jan 22 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC