October 1987 lunar eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on Wednesday, October 7, 1987, the second of two lunar eclipses in 1987, the first being on April 14, 1987. The Moon approached within 0.00949% of its diameter outside of touching the Earth’s umbral shadow at maximum eclipse; 98.63% of the Moon's disc was partially shaded by the Earth, with the overall eclipse lasting 4 hours and 14 minutes. While less dramatic than a partial eclipse (as no part of the Moon was in complete shadow), a shading across the Moon should have been readily visible to observers. The Moon was just 3.1 days after perigee (Perigee on Sunday, October 4, 1987), making it 2.1% larger than average.

October 1987 lunar eclipse

Penumbral eclipse
Date	7 October 1987
Gamma	1.01890
Magnitude	0.98640
Saros cycle	146 (9 of 72)
Penumbral	253 minutes, 33 seconds
Contacts (UTC) P1 01:54:44.9 Greatest 04:01:33.8 P4 06:08:17.9

Visibility

Related lunar eclipses

Eclipses of 1987

• A hybrid solar eclipse on March 29.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 14.
• An annular solar eclipse on September 23.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on October 7.

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1984–1987
Descending node					Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
111	1984 May 15	Penumbral	1.11308		116	1984 Nov 08	Penumbral	−1.08998
121	1985 May 04	Total	0.35197		126	1985 Oct 28	Total	−0.40218
131	1986 Apr 24	Total	−0.36826		136	1986 Oct 17	Total	0.31887
141	1987 Apr 14	Penumbral	−1.13641		146	1987 Oct 07	Penumbral	1.01890
Last set	1984 Jun 13				Last set	1983 Dec 20
Next set	1988 Mar 03				Next set	1988 Aug 27

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 partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 153.

October 2, 1978	October 12, 1996

See also

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

External links

• 1987 Oct 07 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC