December 2010 lunar eclipse

(Redirected from 21 December 2010 lunar eclipse) Total Lunar eclipse of 21 December 2010

Total eclipse

Totality as viewed from San Jose, California, 8:11 UTC

Date

December 21, 2010

Gamma

0.3213

Magnitude

1.2576

Saros cycle

125 (48 of 72)

Totality

72 minutes, 21 seconds

Partiality

208 minutes, 41 seconds

Penumbral

335 minutes, 7 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	5:29:21
U1	6:32:38
U2	7:40:48
Greatest	8:16:57
U3	8:53:09
U4	10:01:19
P4	11:04:28

← June 2010 June 2011 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Tuesday, December 21, 2010, with an umbral magnitude of 1.2576. 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 4 days before apogee (on December 25, 2010, at 7:15 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

This eclipse was notable in that it coincided with the date of the Winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and Summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. It was the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the Northern Winter Solstice (Southern Summer Solstice) since 1638, and only the second in the Common Era.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean, seen rising over east Asia and Australia and setting over South America, west Africa, and Europe.

	Hourly motion shown right to left	The Moon's hourly motion across the Earth's shadow in the constellation of Taurus.
Visibility map

Images

These simulated views of the Earth from the center of the Moon during the lunar eclipse show where the eclipse is visible on Earth.

Gallery

**Progressions**
Progression from São Paulo, Brazil
Progression from Anchorage, Alaska
Panorama showing the view from the site of the VLT
Sequence from Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Sequence is in 15-minute increments, with 5-minute increments up until totality at 8:17 am UTC)	Progression from Toronto, Canada
From Jacksonville, Florida, 8:29 UTC - 10:06 UTC	From Easton, Pennsylvania

Individual shots, sorted by time:

From New York City, New York, 5:35 UTC
From Arlington County, Virginia, ~7:30 UTC
From New York City, New York, 7:38 UTC
From Seattle, Washington, beginning of totality, 7:41 UTC
From the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada, 7:46 UTC
From Miami, Florida, 7:52 UTC
From Richardson, Texas, 7:53 UTC
From Dover, Delaware, 7:54 UTC
Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada during totality, 8:21 UTC
From Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 8:26 UTC
From Orlando, Florida, 8:28 UTC
From Jacksonville, Florida, 8:30 UTC
Amateur scientists observing eclipse in Villa Gesell, Argentina, 8:34 UTC
From Tucson, Arizona, 8:44 UTC
From Longjing District, Taichung, Taiwan at moonrise, 9:45 UTC

Animations:

Animated Simulation
Time-lapsed animation
Miami, Florida

Timing

In North America, the eclipse was visible in its entirety on 21 December 2010, from 12:27 a.m. to 6:06 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. In the Central Standard Time zone and west, the eclipse began the night of 20 December. Observers along South America's east coast missed the late stages of the eclipse because they occurred after moon-set.

Likewise much of Europe and Africa experienced moon-set while the eclipse was in progress. In Europe, only those observers in northern Scandinavia (including Iceland), Ireland and Britain could observe the entire event. For observers in eastern Asia the moon rose in eclipse. The eclipse was not visible from southern and eastern Africa, the Middle East or South Asia. In Japan and northeastern Asia, the eclipse's end was visible, with the moon rising at sunset. In the Philippines it was observable as a partial lunar eclipse just after sunset.

Predictions suggested that the total eclipse may appear unusually orange or red, as a result of the eruption of Mount Merapi in Indonesia on 26 October.

Local times of eclipse over North America
Event	HAST (UTC-10)	AKST (UTC−9)	PST (UTC−8)	MST (UTC−7)	CST (UTC−6)	EST (UTC−5)	AST (UTC−4)	UTC (UTC)
Start penumbral (P1)	7:29 pm	8:29 pm	9:29 pm	10:29 pm	11:29 pm	12:29 am	1:29 am	5:29 am
Start umbral (U1)	8:33 pm	9:33 pm	10:33 pm	11:33 pm	12:33 am	1:33 am	2:33 am	6:33 am
Start total (U2)	9:41 pm	10:41 pm	11:41 pm	12:41 am	1:41 am	2:41 am	3:41 am	7:41 am
Greatest eclipse	10:17 pm	11:17 pm	12:17 am	1:17 am	2:17 am	3:17 am	4:17 am	8:17 am
End total (U3)	10:53 pm	11:53 pm	12:53 am	1:53 am	2:53 am	3:53 am	4:53 am	8:53 am
End umbral (U4)	12:01 am	1:01 am	2:01 am	3:01 am	4:01 am	5:01 am	6:01 am	10:01 am
End penumbral (P4)	1:04 am	2:04 am	3:04 am	4:04 am	5:04 am	6:04 am	7:04 am	11:04 am
(*) before midnight on Monday night, 20 December

Eclipse details

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

December 21, 2010 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.28215
Umbral Magnitude	1.25759
Gamma	0.32139
Sun Right Ascension	17h57m09.6s
Sun Declination	-23°26'09.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'15.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	05h57m17.3s
Moon Declination	+23°44'47.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'52.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°58'14.3"
ΔT	66.4 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 2009–2013

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 February 9, 2009 and August 6, 2009 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the lunar eclipses on April 25, 2013 (partial) and October 18, 2013 (penumbral) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2009 to 2013
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
110	2009 Jul 07	Penumbral	−1.4916	115	2009 Dec 31	Partial	0.9766
120	2010 Jun 26	Partial	−0.7091	125	2010 Dec 21	Total	0.3214
130	2011 Jun 15	Total	0.0897	135	2011 Dec 10	Total	−0.3882
140	2012 Jun 04	Partial	0.8248	145	2012 Nov 28	Penumbral	−1.0869
150	2013 May 25	Penumbral	1.5351

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 be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Ascending node	Descending node
1991 Jun 27 - penumbral (110) 2010 Jun 26 - partial (120) 2029 Jun 26 - total (130) 2048 Jun 26 - partial (140) 2067 Jun 27 - penumbral (150)	1991 Dec 21 - partial (115) 2010 Dec 21 - total (125) 2029 Dec 20 - total (135) 2048 Dec 20 - partial (145)

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 20 total eclipses between April 24, 1967 and August 11, 2185, only being partial on November 19, 2021.

Tritos eclipse series (subset 1901–2087)
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type chart	Saros	Date Viewing	Type chart
115	1901 Oct 27	Partial	116	1912 Sep 26	Partial
117	1923 Aug 26	Partial	118	1934 Jul 26	Partial
119	1945 Jun 25	Partial	120	1956 May 24	Partial
121	1967 Apr 24	Total	122	1978 Mar 24	Total
123	1989 Feb 20	Total	124	2000 Jan 21	Total
125	2010 Dec 21	Total	126	2021 Nov 19	Partial
127	2032 Oct 18	Total	128	2043 Sep 19	Total
129	2054 Aug 18	Total	130	2065 Jul 17	Total
131	2076 Jun 17	Total	132	2087 May 17	Total
133	2098 Apr 15	Total

Saros 125

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 125, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on July 17, 1163. It contains partial eclipses from January 17, 1470 through June 6, 1686; total eclipses from June 17, 1704 through March 19, 2155; and a second set of partial eclipses from March 29, 2173 through June 25, 2317. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on September 9, 2443.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 100 minutes, 23 seconds on August 22, 1812. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1812 Aug 22, lasting 100 minutes, 23 seconds.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1163 Jul 17	1470 Jan 17	1704 Jun 17	1758 Jul 20
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	1920 Oct 27	2155 Mar 19	2317 Jun 25	2443 Sep 09

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.

Series members 37–58 occur between 1801 and 2200:
37	38	39
1812 Aug 22	1830 Sep 02	1848 Sep 13

40	41	42
1866 Sep 24	1884 Oct 04	1902 Oct 17

43	44	45
1920 Oct 27	1938 Nov 07	1956 Nov 18

46	47	48
1974 Nov 29	1992 Dec 09	2010 Dec 21

49	50	51
2028 Dec 31	2047 Jan 12	2065 Jan 22

52	53	54
2083 Feb 02	2101 Feb 14	2119 Feb 25

55	56	57
2137 Mar 07	2155 Mar 19	2173 Mar 29

58
2191 Apr 09

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 132.