May 2003 lunar eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse May 15-16, 2003
From Minneapolis, Minnesota, 3:17 UTC
The moon's path through the Earth's shadow.
Series (and member)	121 (55)
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality	00:52:42
Partial	02:14:38
Penumbral	05:09:30
Contacts
P1	01:05:25 UTC
U1	02:02:51 UTC
U2	03:13:49 UTC
Greatest	03:40:11
U3	04:06:31 UTC
U4	05:17:29 UTC
P4	06:14:56 UTC
The moon's path across the Earth's shadow near its descending node in Libra.

A total lunar eclipse took place on May 16, 2003, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2003, the other being on November 9, 2003.

This lunar eclipse is first of a tetrad, four total lunar eclipses in series. The previous series was in 1985 and 1986, starting with a May 1985 lunar eclipse. The next one was in 2014 and 2015, starting with the April 2014 lunar eclipse.

Visibility

Photo gallery

Wide angle view of moon above the trees at 3:35 UT (near greatest eclipse)

Relation to other lunar eclipses

Saros series

It is a member of Saros cycle 121.

Lunar year series

It is also the second of four lunar year cycles, repeating every 354 days.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 2002–2005
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros Photo	Date View	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros Photo	Date View	Type Chart	Gamma
111	2002 May 26	penumbral	1.1759	116	2002 Nov 20	penumbral	−1.1127
121	2003 May 16	total	0.4123	126	2003 Nov 09	total	−0.4319
131	2004 May 04	total	−0.3132	136	2004 Oct 28	total	0.2846
141	2005 Apr 24	penumbral	−1.0885	146	2005 Oct 17	partial	0.9796

Last set	2002 Jun 24			Last set	2001 Dec 30

Next set	2006 Mar 14			Next set	2006 Sep 07

Metonic series

This eclipse is the second of four Metonic cycle lunar eclipses on the same date, May 15-16, 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 be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

1984 May 15.19 - penumbral (111) 2003 May 16.15 - total (121) 2022 May 16.17 - total (131) 2041 May 16.03 - penumbral (141)	1984 Nov 08.75 - penumbral (116) 2003 Nov 09.05 - total (126) 2022 Nov 08.46 - total (136) 2041 Nov 08.19 - partial (146) 2060 Nov 08.17 - penumbral (156)