A total lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Tuesday, May 29 and Wednesday, May 30, 2170, with an umbral magnitude of 1.7488. It will be a central lunar eclipse, in which part of the Moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. 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 3.6 days after perigee (on May 26, 2170, at 10:15 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter will be larger. This will be the greatest lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 133 as well as the largest and darkest lunar eclipse of the 22nd century.
Visibility The eclipse will be completely visible over central and eastern South America, western Europe, and much of Africa, seen rising over western South America and much of North America and setting over eastern Europe, the western half of Asia, and western Australia.
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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 2170 A partial solar eclipse on May 15–16. A total lunar eclipse on May 29–30. A partial solar eclipse on June 14. A partial solar eclipse on November 8. A total lunar eclipse on November 23. A partial solar eclipse on December 7.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 11, 2166 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 18, 2174
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 18–19, 2163 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 10–11, 2177
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 25, 2161 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 5, 2179
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 30, 2159 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 29, 2181
Lunar Saros 133 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 18, 2152 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 9, 2188
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 19, 2141 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 10, 2199
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 28–29, 2083 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 30, 2257
Lunar eclipses of 2168–2172 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 lunar eclipses on January 24, 2168 (partial), July 20, 2168 (penumbral), and January 13, 2169 (penumbral) occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipses on April 8–9, 2172 and October 2, 2172 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 133 This eclipse is a part of Saros series 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 13, 1557. It contains partial eclipses from August 7, 1683 through December 17, 1899; total eclipses from December 28, 1917 through August 3, 2278; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 14, 2296 through March 11, 2639. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 29, 2819. The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 41 seconds on May 30, 2170. 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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 140.
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