Saturday, Oct. 28, Partial Eclipse Is Second of Two 2023 Lunar Eclipses

Summary: The Oct. 28, partial eclipse is the second 2023 lunar eclipse and is visible in Africa, eastern Americas, East Antarctica, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Earth's orientation, as viewed from the moon's center during the Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, partial lunar eclipse's greatest eclipse: Tom Ruen (SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Saturday, Oct. 28, partial lunar eclipse is the second 2023 lunar eclipse and is primarily an Eastern Hemisphere event offering visibility to the eastern Americas, Africa, northern East Antarctica, Asia, Australia and Europe.

October's lunar eclipse has an expected duration of 4 hours 25 minutes 16.3 seconds, according to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) astrophysicist, now retired, Fred Espenak's eclipse predictions on his EclipseWise website. The year's second of two lunar eclipses begins Saturday, Oct. 28, at 18:01:16.6 Universal Time (2:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time; 9:01 p.m. Arabia Standard Time). October's partial lunar eclipse finishes Saturday, Oct. 28, at 22:27:44.1 UT1 (6:27 p.m. EDT; Sunday, Oct. 29, at 1:27 a.m. AST).

The umbral portion of October's eclipse concerns the umbra, the darker, inner portion of Earth's shadow. The umbral portion lasts for 1 hour 18 minutes 08.9 seconds. First contact occurs Saturday, Oct. 28, at 19:34:41.4 UT1 (3:34 p.m. EDT; 10:34 p.m. AST). Last umbral contact takes place at 20:54:01.4 UT1 (4:54 p.m. EDT; 11:54 p.m. AST).

Greatest eclipse signifies the instant of the closest lunar passage to the axis of Earth's shadow cone. October's partial lunar eclipse registers greatest eclipse at 20:14:05.9 UT1 (4:14 p.m. EDT; 11:14 p.m. AST).

The zenith latitude and zenith longitude at greatest eclipse are given as 14 degrees 5 minutes north latitude and 52 degrees 00.4 minutes east longitude. The coordinates place greatest eclipse in the Arabian Sea, off the southeastern coast of West Asia's Republic of Yemen. The location lies south of the Arabian Peninsula, southeast of the Yemeni coastal town of Qishn and southwest of the Yemeni coastal town of Nishtun. The Arabian Sea location lies east of the Indian Ocean's deepwater Gulf of Aden and north of the Guardafui Channel, an oceanic strait off the tip of the Horn of Africa connecting the Gulf of Aden with the Indian Ocean. The Guardafui Channel's Yemeni islands of Abd al Kuri and Socotra are sited to south and southeast, respectively, of the greatest eclipse's coordinates.

The moon, which is in a lunar eclipse's requisite full phase, reaches perigee 2.7 days before the October lunar eclipse's achievement of greatest eclipse, according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak's EclipseWise website. Perigee (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “near” + γῆ, gê, “Earth”) references the closest center-to-center distance between moon and Earth. October's perigee takes place Thursday, Oct. 26, at 02:53 Greenwich Mean Time (UT + 0 hours; Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 10:53 p.m. EDT; Thursday, Oct. 26, at 5:53 a.m. AST), at a distance of 364,873 kilometers, according to "Perigee and Apogee" 2001 to 2100" charts on Espenak's AstroPixels website.

Contrastingly, the first 2023 lunar eclipse, which occurred as a penumbral eclipse Friday May 5, preceded perigee by 5.5 days. May's perigee was achieved Thursday, May 11, at 04:57 GMT (12:57 a.m. EDT), at a farther distance of 369,345 kilometers.

During the October partial lunar eclipse, the moon was passing through Aries the Ram constellation. Contrastingly, the moon was positioned in Libra the Scales during the May penumbral lunar eclipse.

October's partial lunar eclipse primarily favors Earth's Eastern Hemisphere. The event offers all-eclipse visibility to the Arctic Ocean and to Europe. All-eclipse visibility also is available to a portion of northern East Antarctica, most of Greenland, mostly Africa and mostly Asia. Eastern portions of the North and South Atlantic Ocean, much of the Indian Ocean, portions of the Southern Ocean off northern East Antarctica and a sliver of the western Pacific Ocean via the South China Sea also experience all-eclipse visibility.

Varying amounts of incomplete visibility are available to the eastern America, southernmost Greenland, parts of West Africa, much of maritime Southeast Asia, far eastern Asia (Russian Far East, northeastern China, Japan, the Philippines), Australia and more of northern East Antarctica. The incomplete visibility region also brings in more of the Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans.ipse primarily favors Earth's Eastern Hemisphere. The event offers all-eclipse visibility to the Arctic Ocean and to Europe. All-eclipse visibility also is available to a portion of northern East Antarctica, most of Greenland, mostly Africa and mostly Asia. Eastern portions of the North and South Atlantic Ocean, much of the Indian Ocean, portions of the Southern Ocean off northern East Antarctica and a sliver of the western Pacific Ocean via the South China Sea also experience all-eclipse visibility.

Varying amounts of incomplete visibility are available to the eastern America, southernmost Greenland, parts of West Africa, much of maritime Southeast Asia, far eastern Asia (Russian Far East, northeastern China, Japan, the Philippines), Australia and more of northern East Antarctica. The incomplete visibility region also brings in more of the Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans.

As the fourth of four 2023 eclipses, the Saturday, Oct. 28, partial lunar eclipse closes the year's eclipse lineups. The October lunar eclipse was preceded by an annular solar eclipse on Saturday, Oct. 14. The October solar eclipse numbered as the second of the year's two solar eclipse. The first solar eclipse had taken place Thursday, April 20, as a rare hybrid solar eclipse. The year's first lunar eclipse had happened Friday, May 5, in between the two solar eclipses, as a penumbral lunar eclipse.

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, partial lunar eclipse details; "Permission freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, via NASA Eclipse Web Site

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Earth's orientation, as viewed from the moon's center during the Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, partial lunar eclipse's greatest eclipse: Tom Ruen (SockPuppetForTomruen at English Wikipedia), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lunar_eclipse_from_moon-2023Oct28.png

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, partial lunar eclipse details; "Permission freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2023Oct28P.pdf

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