October 1986 lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse took place on Friday, October 17, 1986, the second of two total lunar eclipses in 1986, the first being on April 24, 1986. The Moon was plunged into darkness for 1 hour, 13 minutes and 41 seconds, in a deep total eclipse which saw the Moon 24.545% of its diameter inside the Earth's umbral shadow. The visual effect of this depends on the state of the Earth's atmosphere, but the Moon may have been stained a deep red colour. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 36 minutes and 49.5 seconds in total. The Moon was 5.4 days before apogee (Apogee on Thursday, October 23, 1986), making it 3.3% smaller than average.^[1]

It was completely visible over Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, seen rising over Europe, Africa on the evening of Friday, October 17, 1986, and setting over Asia, Australia on the morning of Saturday, October 18, 1986.

• A partial solar eclipse on April 9.
• A total lunar eclipse on April 24.
• A hybrid solar eclipse on October 3.
• A total lunar eclipse on October 17.

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

This eclipse is the third of four Metonic cycle lunar eclipses on the same date, October 17–18, each separated by 19 years:

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 1948–2005

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type		Saros	Date	Type
111	1948 Apr 23	Partial		116	1948 Oct 18	Penumbral
121	1967 Apr 24	Total		126	1967 Oct 18	Total
131	1986 Apr 24	Total		136	1986 Oct 17	Total
141	2005 Apr 24	Penumbral		146	2005 Oct 17	Partial

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[2] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 143.

October 12, 1977	October 24, 1995

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

• 1986 Oct 17 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC

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