February 1989 lunar eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse February 20, 1989
(No photo)
The moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals.
Series	123 (51 of 73)
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality	1:18:31.6
Partial	3:43:08.6
Penumbral	6:07:45.8
Contacts UTC
P1	12:31:30.6
U1	13:43:46.8
U2	14:56:05.6
Greatest	15:35:21.9
U3	16:14:37.2
U4	17:26:55.4
P4	18:39:16.5

A total lunar eclipse took place on Monday, February 20, 1989, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 1989.

Visibility

It was completely visible from Australia and most of Asia. It was visible setting in eastern Africa and Europe. In the Philippines, the lunar eclipse was very visible throughout the country since the modern lunar eclipse happened on July 26, 1953.

It was also preceded by the twin total lunar eclipses on April 24, 1986 and October 17, 1986. The next one happened on February 9, 1990.

Relation to other lunar eclipses

Eclipses of 1989

• A total lunar eclipse on February 20.
• A partial solar eclipse on March 7.
• A total lunar eclipse on August 17.
• A partial solar eclipse on August 31.

Lunar year series (354 days)

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1988–1991
Descending node					Ascending node
Saros	Date viewing	Type chart	Gamma		Saros	Date viewing	Type chart	Gamma
113	1988 Mar 03	Penumbral	0.98855		118	1988 Aug 27	Partial	−0.86816
123	1989 Feb 20	Total	0.29347		128	1989 Aug 17	Total	−0.14905
133	1990 Feb 09	Total	−0.41481		138	1990 Aug 06	Partial	0.63741
143	1991 Jan 30	Penumbral	−1.07522		148	1991 Jul 26	Penumbral	1.43698
Last set	1987 Apr 14				Last set	1987 Oct 07
Next set	1991 Dec 21				Next set	1991 Jun 27

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 series (18 years 11 days)

Lunar saros series 123, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has 25 total lunar eclipses. The first total lunar eclipse of this series was on July 16, 1628, and last will be on April 4, 2061. The two longest occurrence of this series were on September 20, 1736 and October 1, 1754 when totality lasted 106 minutes.

It last occurred on February 10, 1971 and will next occur on March 3, 2007.

Metonic cycle (19 years)

This is the third of five Metonic lunar eclipses.

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 in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Metonic lunar eclipse sets 1951–2027

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type		Saros	Date	Type
103	1951 Feb 21.88	Penumbral		108	1951 Aug 17.13	Penumbral
113	1970 Feb 21.35	Partial		118	1970 Aug 17.14	Partial
123	1989 Feb 20.64	Total		128	1989 Aug 17.13	Total
133	2008 Feb 21.14	Total		138	2008 Aug 16.88	Partial
143	2027 Feb 20.96	Penumbral		148	2027 Aug 17.30	Penumbral

Saros series

Lunar saros series 123, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has 25 total lunar eclipses. The first total lunar eclipse of this series was on July 16, 1628, and last will be on April 4, 2061. The two longest occurrence of this series were on September 20, 1736 and October 1, 1754 when totality lasted 106 minutes.

It last occurred on January 29, 1953 and will next occur on February 20, 1989.

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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 130.

February 16, 1980	February 26, 1998

See also

• List of lunar eclipses
• List of 20th-century lunar eclipses

External links

• 1989 Feb 20 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC