A partial lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, July 18, 2046, with an umbral magnitude of 0.2478. 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 5.2 days before apogee (on July 23, 2046, at 6:35 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be smaller.
Visibility The eclipse will be completely visible over South America, western Europe, and Africa, seen rising over much of North America and setting over eastern Europe and the western half of 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 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 September 29, 2042 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 6, 2050
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 6, 2039 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 29, 2053
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 13, 2037 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 24, 2055
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 19, 2035 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 17, 2057
Lunar Saros 120 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 6, 2028 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 28, 2064
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2017 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 28, 2075
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 17, 1959 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 19, 2133
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 120 This eclipse is a part of Saros series 120, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 83 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on October 16, 1000. It contains partial eclipses from May 31, 1379 through August 4, 1487; total eclipses from August 14, 1505 through May 14, 1938; and a second set of partial eclipses from May 24, 1956 through July 28, 2064. The series ends at member 83 as a penumbral eclipse on April 7, 2479. The longest duration of totality was produced by member 43 at 104 minutes, 55 seconds on January 24, 1758. 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 127.
See also List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links 2046 Jul 18 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC