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At least two lunar eclipses and as many as five occur every year, although total lunar eclipses are significantly less common than partial lunar eclipses. If the date and time of an eclipse is known, the occurrences of upcoming eclipses are predictable using an eclipse cycle , like the saros .
Lunar eclipses occur when the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow. This happens only during a full moon, when the Moon is on the far side of the Earth from the Sun. Unlike a solar eclipse, an eclipse of the Moon can be observed from nearly an entire hemisphere. For this reason it is much more common to observe a lunar eclipse from a given ...
Lunar Eclipses. Lunar eclipses—when the Earth moves between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the moon’s surface—are less spectacular than solar eclipses, but still dramatic, as much ...
An eclipse season is the only time when the Sun (from the perspective of the Earth) is close enough to one of the Moon's nodes to allow an eclipse to occur. During the season, whenever there is a full moon a lunar eclipse may occur and whenever there is a new moon a solar eclipse may occur.
Lunar eclipses always occur at the full moon phase when Earth is positioned between the moon and the sun. When those three bodies align, Earth’s shadow falls upon the surface of the moon, ...
Nodal precession of the lunar nodes as the Earth revolves around the Sun causes an eclipse season approximately every six months. A lunar eclipse can occur only when the full Moon is near either lunar node (within 11° 38' ecliptic longitude), while a solar eclipse can occur only when the new Moon is near either lunar node (within 17° 25').
The full moon will move into the outer part of the Earth's shadow, the penumbra. As the penumbral lunar eclipse occurs, the moon will dim slightly, while in a total lunar eclipse, the moon becomes ...
The Moon then wanes as it passes through the gibbous moon, third-quarter moon, and crescent moon phases, before returning back to new moon. The terms old moon and new moon are not interchangeable. The "old moon" is a waning sliver (which eventually becomes undetectable to the naked eye) until the moment it aligns with the Sun and begins to wax ...