A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Friday, May 6, 2050, with an umbral magnitude of 1.0779. 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 about 6.5 days after apogee (on April 30, 2050, at 11:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be smaller. This lunar eclipse is the first of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on October 30, 2050; April 26, 2051; and October 19, 2051.
Visibility The eclipse will be completely visible over Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Antarctica, seen rising over eastern North America and South America and setting over much of Asia and Australia.
Eclipse details Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular luanr 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 2050 A total lunar eclipse on May 6. A hybrid solar eclipse on May 20. A total lunar eclipse on October 30. A partial solar eclipse on November 14.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 18, 2046 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 22, 2054
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 25, 2043 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 17, 2057
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 30, 2041 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 11, 2059
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 6, 2039 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 2061
Lunar Saros 122 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 25, 2032 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 17, 2068
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 26, 2021 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 16, 2079
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 6, 1963 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 7, 2137
Lunar eclipses of 2049–2052 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 15, 2049 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Metonic series The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars. This series has 9 events centered on May 6th and October 30th: (saros number)
Saros 122 This eclipse is a part of Saros series 122, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 74 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on August 14, 1022. It contains partial eclipses from April 10, 1419 through June 24, 1545; total eclipses from July 5, 1563 through May 6, 2050; and a second set of partial eclipses from May 17, 2068 through July 21, 2176. The series ends at member 74 as a penumbral eclipse on October 29, 2338. The longest duration of totality was produced by member 39 at 100 minutes, 5 seconds on October 11, 1707. 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 partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 129.
See also List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses Tetrad
Notes
External links 2050 May 06 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC