On July 16, 2000, a total lunar eclipse will occur, in which the Moon, being near the apogee of its orbit, will pass practically through
On July 16, 2000, a total lunar eclipse will occur, in which the Moon, being near the apogee of its orbit, will pass practically through the center of the earth’s shadow. Will the maximum eclipse phase be close to the theoretical maximum? full phase duration?
With distance from the Earth, the spatial diameter of the shadow of our planet decreases, and accordingly its ratio to the diameter of the Moon decreases. Therefore, the largest phase will have central lunar eclipses, in which our satellite is close to the point of perigee, and not the apogee of the orbit, and the phase of the eclipse on July 16, 2000 will be less than the maximum. But the duration of the full phase (1 hour 47 minutes), on the contrary, will approach its maximum value, since the speed of the Moon at apogee is almost 15% less than at perigee, and the spatial size of the shadow is only 5% less.
