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.
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 | |
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
