September 2006 lunar eclipse
A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, September 7, 2006, with an umbral magnitude of 0.1837. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in the Earth's penumbra. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. Occurring only about 4 hours before perigee (on September 7, 2006, at 23:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over Asia, east Africa, eastern Europe and western Australia, seen rising over west Africa and western Europe and setting over eastern Australia and the western Pacific Ocean.
Images

Gallery
Degania A, Israel
- North Wales, UK
- Shizuoka City, Japan
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 2006
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 14.
- A total solar eclipse on March 29.
- A partial lunar eclipse on September 7.
- An annular solar eclipse on September 22.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 20, 2002
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 26, 2010
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 28, 1999
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 18, 2013
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 2, 1997
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 13, 2015
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 8, 1995
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 7, 2017
Lunar Saros 118
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 27, 1988
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 18, 2024
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 27, 1977
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 19, 2035
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 7, 1919
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 8, 2093
Lunar eclipses of 2006–2009
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The lunar eclipses on July 7, 2009 (penumbral) and December 31, 2009 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Metonic series
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.
Saros 118
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 118, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on March 2, 1105. It contains partial eclipses from June 8, 1267 through August 12, 1375; total eclipses from August 22, 1393 through June 22, 1880; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 3, 1898 through September 18, 2024. The series ends at member 73 as a penumbral eclipse on May 7, 2403.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 99 minutes, 22 seconds on April 7, 1754. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
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 125.
See also
- List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
- May 2003 lunar eclipse
- November 2003 lunar eclipse
- May 2004 lunar eclipse
- File:2006-09-07 Lunar Eclipse Sketch.gif Chart
References
External links
- 2006 Sep 07 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Hermit eclipse: 2006-09-07
- Photo
- Photo from New Zealand [1]