May 2040 lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse will take place on May 26, 2040. The northern limb of the Moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow. This is the second central lunar eclipse of Saros series 131. This lunar event will occur near perigee, as a result, it will be referred to as a "super flower blood moon" or "super blood moon", though not quite as close to Earth as the eclipse of May 26, 2021.

Total lunar eclipse May 26, 2040
Ecliptic north up The Moon’s northern limb will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow.
Saros (and member)	131 (35 of 72)
Gamma	-0.1872
Magnitude	1.5348
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality	1:32:12
Partial	3:30:42
Penumbral	5:21:26
Contacts (UTC)
P1	9:05:40
U1	10:01:01
U2	11:00:16
Greatest	11:46:22
U3	12:32:28
U4	13:31:43
P4	14:27:04

This eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 131, and the second of the series that passes through the center of the Earth's shadow. The first central eclipse of this series took place on May 15-16, 2022.

Visibility

It will be completely visible over Australia and the Pacific, seen rising over Eastern Asia, and setting over North and South America.

Related lunar eclipses

Lunar year series (354 days)

This eclipse is the third of four lunar year eclipses occurring at the Moon's ascending node.

The lunar year series repeats after 12 lunations or 354 days (Shifting back about 10 days in sequential years). Because of the date shift, the Earth's shadow will be about 11 degrees west in sequential events.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2038-2042

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart
111	2038 Jun 17	Penumbral		116	2038 Dec 11	Penumbral
121	2039 Jun 06	Partial		126	2039 Nov 30	Partial
131	2040 May 26	Total		136	2040 Nov 18	Total
141	2041 May 16	Partial		146	2041 Nov 08	Partial
				156	2042 Oct 28	Penumbral
Last set	2038 Jul 16			Last set	2038 Jan 21
Next set	2042 Apr 05			Next set	2042 Sep 29

Metonic series

First eclipse: May 26, 2002. Second eclipse: May 26, 2021. Third eclipse: May 26, 2040. Fourth eclipse: May 27, 2059.

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[1] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 138.

May 21, 2031	May 31, 2049

Saros series

Lunar Saros series 131, has 72 lunar eclipses. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

This eclipse series began in AD 1427 with a partial eclipse at the southern edge of the Earth's shadow when the Moon was close to its descending node. Each successive Saros cycle, the Moon's orbital path is shifted northward with respect to the Earth's shadow, with the first total eclipse occurring in 1950. For the following 252 years, total eclipses occur, with the central eclipse being predicted to occur in 2078. The first partial eclipse after this is predicted to occur in the year 2220, and the final partial eclipse of the series will occur in 2707. The total lifetime of the lunar Saros series 131 is 1280 years. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Because of the ⅓ fraction of days in a Saros cycle, the visibility of each eclipse will differ for an observer at a given fixed locale. For the lunar Saros series 131, the first total eclipse of 1950 had its best visibility for viewers in Eastern Europe and the Middle East because mid-eclipse was at 20:44 UT. The following eclipse in the series occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day with mid-eclipse at 4:47 UT, and was best seen from North America and South America. The third total eclipse occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day than the second eclipse with mid-eclipse at 12:43 UT, and had its best visibility for viewers in the Western Pacific, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This cycle of visibility repeats from the initiation to termination of the series, with minor variations. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Lunar Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 72 lunar eclipse events including 57 umbral lunar eclipses (42 partial lunar eclipses and 15 total lunar eclipses). Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2094 Jun 28, lasting 102 minutes.[2]	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1427 May 10	1553 July 25	1950 Apr 2	2022 May 16
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2148 Jul 31	2202 Sep 3	2563 Apr 9	2707 Jul 7

1901–2100

1914 Mar 12		1932 Mar 22		1950 Apr 2
1968 Apr 13		1986 Apr 24		2004 May 4
2022 May 16		2040 May 26		2058 Jun 6
2076 Jun 17		2094 Jun 28

Inex series

The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 39.

All events in this series listed below and more are total lunar eclipses.

Inex series from 1000 to 2500 AD

Ascending node		Descending node		Ascending node		Descending node
Saros	Date	Saros	Date	Saros	Date	Saros	Date
96	1027 Apr 23	97	1056 Apr 2	98	1085 Mar 14	99	1114 Feb 21
100	1143 Feb 1	101	1172 Jan 13	102	1200 Dec 22	103	1229 Dec 2
104	1258 Nov 12	105	1287 Oct 22	106	1316 Oct 2	107	1345 Sep 12
108	1374 Aug 22	109	1403 Aug 2	110	1432 Jul 13	111	1461 Jun 22
112	1490 Jun 2	113	1519 May 14	114	1548 Apr 22	115	1577 Apr 2
116	1606 Mar 24	117	1635 Mar 3	118	1664 Feb 11	119	1693 Jan 22
120	1722 Jan 2	121	1750 Dec 13	122	1779 Nov 23	123	1808 Nov 3
124	1837 Oct 13	125	1866 Sep 24	126	1895 Sep 4	127	1924 Aug 14
128	1953 Jul 26	129	1982 Jul 6	130	2011 Jun 15	131	2040 May 26
132	2069 May 6	133	2098 Apr 15	134	2127 Mar 28	135	2156 Mar 7
136	2185 Feb 14	137	2214 Jan 27	138	2243 Jan 7	139	2271 Dec 17
140	2300 Nov 27	141	2329 Nov 7	142	2358 Oct 18	143	2387 Sep 28
144	2416 Sep 7	145	2445 Aug 17	146	2474 Jul 29

See also

• List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses

Notes

1. Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
2. Listing of Eclipses of cycle 131

External links

• NASA: Lunar Eclipses: Past and Future
  • 2040 May 26 chart: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Index to Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses, -1999 to [phone] BCE to 3000 CE)
    • Eclipses: 2001 to 2100^{[dead link‍]}

References

• Bao-Lin Liu, Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1500 B.C.-A.D. 3000, 1992