July 2000 lunar eclipse

July 2000 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	Hourly motion shown right to left
Date	July 16, 2000
Gamma	0.0302
Magnitude	1.7684
Saros cycle	129 (37 of 71)
Totality	106 minutes, 25 seconds
Partiality	236 minutes, 2 seconds
Penumbral	374 minutes, 31 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	10:48:22
U1	11:57:35
U2	13:02:23
Greatest	13:55:35
U3	14:48:47
U4	15:53:55
P4	17:02:46
	← January 2000 January 2001 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Sunday, July 16, 2000,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.7684. 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 1.1 days after apogee (on July 15, 2000, at 11:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.^[2]

This was a relatively rare central lunar eclipse, where the Moon crossed the center of the Earth's shadow. Totality lasted for 106 minutes and 25 seconds, the longest duration since 13 August 1859 (106 minutes and 28 seconds) and 3 May 459 (106 minutes and 32 seconds), and totality of this length won't occur again until 19 August 4753 (106 minutes and 35 seconds). This was the last and longest total lunar eclipse of the 20th century as well as the second longest and last of the second millennium. It was also the eighth longest total lunar eclipse on EclipseWise's Six Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses which covers the years 3000 BCE to 3000 AD. The longest total lunar eclipse between the years 4000 BCE and 6000 CE took place on 31 May 318. Totality lasted 106 minutes and 36 seconds which is only 11 seconds longer than this one.^[3]

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over Australia, Antarctica, and much of the Pacific Ocean, seen rising over Asia and eastern Africa and setting over western North and South America.^[4]

	The Moon passed straight through the center of the Earth's shadow at the descending node in Sagittarius of its orbit.

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.^[5]

July 16, 2000 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.83749
Umbral Magnitude	1.76839
Gamma	0.03015
Sun Right Ascension	07h44m54.7s
Sun Declination	+21°15'02.4"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'44.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	19h44m54.2s
Moon Declination	-21°13'24.9"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'43.2"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°54'01.2"
ΔT	64.0 s

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.

Eclipse season of July 2000
July 1 Ascending node (new moon)	July 16 Descending node (full moon)	July 31 Ascending node (new moon)

Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 117	Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 129	Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 155

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 2000

Lunar eclipses of 1998–2002

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1998–2002
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
109	1998 Aug 08	penumbral	1.4876	114	1999 Jan 31	penumbral	−1.0190
119	1999 Jul 28	partial	0.7863	124	2000 Jan 21	total	−0.2957
129	2000 Jul 16	total	0.0302	134	2001 Jan 09	total	0.3720
139	2001 Jul 05	partial	−0.7287	144	2001 Dec 30	penumbral	1.0732
149	2002 Jun 24	penumbral	−1.4440

Last set	1998 Sep 06			Last set	1998 Mar 13

Next set	2002 May 26			Next set	2002 Nov 20

Saros 129

Lunar saros series 129, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, containing 71 events, has 11 total lunar eclipses. The first total lunar eclipse of this series was on May 24, 1910, and last will be on September 8, 2090. The longest occurrence of this series was on July 16, 2000 when totality lasted 106 minutes and 24.6 seconds.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 2000 Jul 16, lasting 106 minutes.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1351 Jun 10	1513 Sep 15	1910 May 24	1946 Jun 14
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2036 Aug 7	2090 Sep 8	2469 Apr 26	2613 Jul 24

It last occurred on 27 July 2018, and will next occur on 7 August 2036.

This is the 37th member of Lunar Saros 129. The previous event was the July 2018 lunar eclipse. The next event is the August 2036 lunar eclipse. Lunar Saros 129 contains 11 total lunar eclipses between 1910 and 2090. Solar Saros 136 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Tritos series

The tritos series repeats 31 days short of 11 years at alternating nodes. Sequential events have incremental Saros cycle indices.

This series produces 23 total eclipses between June 22, 1880 and August 9, 2120.

Tritos eclipse series (subset 1901–2100)
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type chart	Saros	Date Viewing	Type chart
120	1902 Apr 22	Total	121	1913 Mar 22	Total
122	1924 Feb 20	Total	123	1935 Jan 19	Total
124	1945 Dec 19	Total	125	1956 Nov 18	Total
126	1967 Oct 18	Total	127	1978 Sep 16	Total
128	1989 Aug 17	Total	129	2000 Jul 16	Total
130	2011 Jun 15	Total	131	2022 May 16	Total
132	2033 Apr 14	Total	133	2044 Mar 13	Total
134	2055 Feb 11	Total	135	2066 Jan 11	Total
136	2076 Dec 10	Total	137	2087 Nov 10	Total
138	2098 Oct 10	Total

Inex series

The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 40.

All events in this series shown (from 1000 to 2500) are central total lunar eclipses.

Inex series from 1000–2500 AD
Descending node		Ascending node		Descending node		Ascending node
Saros	Date	Saros	Date	Saros	Date	Saros	Date
95	1016 May 24	96	1045 May 3	97	1074 Apr 14	98	1103 Mar 25
99	1132 Mar 3	100	1161 Feb 12	101	1190 Jan 23	102	1219 Jan 2
103	1247 Dec 13	104	1276 Nov 23	105	1305 Nov 2	106	1334 Oct 13
107	1363 Sep 23	108	1392 Sep 2	109	1421 Aug 13	110	1450 Jul 24
111	1479 Jul 4	112	1508 Jun 13	113	1537 May 24	114	1566 May 4
115	1595 Apr 24	116	1624 Apr 3	117	1653 Mar 14	118	1682 Feb 21
119	1711 Feb 3	120	1740 Jan 13	121	1768 Dec 23	122	1797 Dec 4
123	1826 Nov 14	124	1855 Oct 25	125	1884 Oct 4	126	1913 Sep 15
127	1942 Aug 26	128	1971 Aug 6	129	2000 Jul 16	130	2029 Jun 26
131	2058 Jun 6	132	2087 May 17	133	2116 Apr 27	134	2145 Apr 7
135	2174 Mar 18	136	2203 Feb 26	137	2232 Feb 7	138	2261 Jan 17
139	2289 Dec 27	140	2318 Dec 9	141	2347 Nov 19	142	2376 Oct 28
143	2405 Oct 8	144	2434 Sep 18	145	2463 Aug 29	146	2492 Aug 8

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[6] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 136.