Lunar Eclipses: 1981 - 1990

Fred Espenak

A concise summary of all lunar eclipses from 1981 through 1990 is presented in the table below. The first column gives the Calendar Date of the instant of greatest eclipse[1]. The second column TD of Greatest Eclipse is the Terrestrial Dynamical Time of greatest eclipse. The third column lists the Eclipse Type which is either Total, Partial, or Penumbral.

Eclipses recur over the Saros cycle, a period of approximately 18 years 11 days. Each eclipse belongs to the Saros Series shown in the 4th column. The Umbral Magnitude[2] (column 5) gives the fraction of the Moon's diameter immersed in Earth's umbral shadow at the instant of greatest eclipse. The Eclipse Duration[3] gives the length of the partial eclipse. If the eclipse is total then two durations are listed. The first is the interval between the beginning and end of the partial phases. The second value (in bold) is the duration the total phase. Finally, the Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility[4] provides a brief description of the regions where each eclipse will be seen.

Two fields in the summary table provide links to graphics and additional information for each eclipse. A figure consisting of a diagram and map for each eclipse may be seen by clicking on the Calendar Date. The top diagram shows the Moon's trajectory with respect to Earth's penumbral and umbral shadows. The equidistant cylindrical projection map below illustrates the geographpic region of visibility for each phase of the eclipse. These figures are described in greater detail in the Key to Lunar Eclipse Maps. Each figure is stored as a PDF file of about 110 kilobytes.

All eclipses belonging to a particular Saros Series are listed in a table linked through the Saros number.

The Key to Lunar Eclipse Decade Table contains a more detailed description of each item in the table.

For more data on lunar eclipses during this period, see Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: 1901 to 2000 .

Lunar Eclipses: 1981 - 1990
Calendar Date TD of Greatest Eclipse Eclipse Type Saros Series Umbral Magnitude Eclipse Duration Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility
1981 Jan 20 07:50:48 Penumbral 114 -0.019 - e Asia, Americas, Europe, nw Africa
1981 Jul 17 04:47:40 Partial 119 0.549 02h43m Pacific, Americas, Africa, w Europe
1982 Jan 09 19:56:44 Total 124 1.331 03h24m
01h18m
e Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1982 Jul 06 07:31:47 Total 129 1.718 03h56m
01h46m
Australia, Pacific, Americas, w Africa
1982 Dec 30 11:29:37 Total 134 1.182 03h16m
01h00m
Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas
1983 Jun 25 08:23:11 Partial 139 0.335 02h15m Australia, Pacific, Americas
1983 Dec 20 01:49:57 Penumbral 144 -0.117 - Americas, Europe, Africa, c Asia
1984 May 15 04:41:03 Penumbral 111 -0.176 - Americas, w Europe, Africa
1984 Jun 13 14:26:39 Penumbral 149 -0.941 - e Asia, Australia, Pacific
1984 Nov 08 17:56:08 Penumbral 116 -0.183 - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1985 May 04 19:57:19 Total 121 1.237 03h19m
01h08m
e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1985 Oct 28 17:43:17 Total 126 1.074 03h35m
00h44m
Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific
1986 Apr 24 12:43:30 Total 131 1.202 03h19m
01h04m
Asia, Australia, Pacific, w Americas
1986 Oct 17 19:18:54 Total 136 1.245 03h37m
01h14m
e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1987 Apr 14 02:19:50 Penumbral 141 -0.231 - Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1987 Oct 07 04:02:30 Penumbral 146 -0.010 - Americas, Europe, Africa
1988 Mar 03 16:13:41 Penumbral 113 -0.002 - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, nw N America
1988 Aug 27 11:05:29 Partial 118 0.292 01h53m e Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas
1989 Feb 20 15:36:18 Total 123 1.275 03h43m
01h19m
Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific, w N America
1989 Aug 17 03:09:07 Total 128 1.598 03h34m
01h36m
Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1990 Feb 09 19:12:02 Total 133 1.075 03h24m
00h42m
Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific
1990 Aug 06 14:13:16 Partial 138 0.677 02h56m e Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific, w N America

Geographic abbreviations (used above): n = north, s = south, e = east, w = west, c = central


[1] Greatest Eclipse is the instant when the distance between the axis of Earth's umbral shadow and the center of the Moon's disk reaches a minimum.

[2] Umbral magnitude is the fraction of the Moon's diameter obscured by Earth's umbral shadow at the instant of greatest eclipse. For total eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than or equal to 1. For partial eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than 0 and less than 1. For penumbral eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always negative (i.e., less than 0).

[3] Eclipse Duration is the duration of the partial phase of a partial eclipse. For total eclipses two values are given. The first is the period between the beginning and end of the partial phases, while the second value (in bold is the duration of the total phase.

[4] Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility is the portion of Earth's surface where some portion of the eclipse can be seen.


Decade Tables of Lunar Eclipses

Every link in the following table displays a page containing 10 years of lunar eclipses. Each eclipse has links to diagrams, maps and saros tables.

Ten Year Tables of Lunar Eclipses
Decades
1901-1910 1911-1920 1921-1930 1931-1940 1941-1950
1951-1960 1961-1970 1971-1980 1981-1990 1991-2000
2001-2010 2011-2020 2021-2030 2031-2040 2041-2050
2051-2060 2061-2070 2071-2080 2081-2090 2091-2100

Lunar Eclipse Catalogs
Lunar Eclipse Resources
Lunar Eclipse Publications Online

Special thanks to National Space Club summer interns Christopher Barrow for his valuable assistance in preparing this web page (July 2004) and Sumit Dutta for meticulously updating the Eclipse Web Site to NASA/W3C standards (July 2005).

All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Some of the information presented on this web site is based on data published in Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000.

Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC"

For more information, see: NASA Copyright Information

2013 Dec 09