A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on Thursday, March 3, 1988, the first of two lunar eclipses in 1988, the second being on August 27, 1988.^[1] Earlier sources compute this as a 0.3% partial eclipse lasting under 14 minutes, and newest calculations list it as a penumbral eclipse that never enters the umbral shadow. In a rare total penumbral eclipse, the entire Moon was partially shaded by the Earth (though none of it was in complete shadow), and the shading across the Moon should have been quite visible at maximum eclipse. The penumbral phase lasted for 4 hours, 53 minutes and 50.6 seconds in all, though for most of it, the eclipse was extremely difficult or impossible to see. The Moon was 2.2 days after apogee (Apogee on Tuesday, March 1, 1988), making it 6.1% smaller than average.^[2]

This was a relatively rare total penumbral lunar eclipse with the moon passing entirely within the penumbral shadow without entering the darker umbral shadow.

The tables below contain detailed predictions and additional information on the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 3 March 1988.

Penumbral Magnitude: 1.09076

Umbral Magnitude: -0.00163

Gamma: 0.98855

Saros Series: 113th (62 of 71)

Date: 3 March 1988

Greatest Eclipse: 03 Mar 1988 16:12:45.7 UTC (16:13:41.5 TD)

Ecliptic Opposition: 03 Mar 1988 16:01:03.9 UTC (16:01:59.8 TD)

Equatorial Opposition: 03 Mar 1988 15:09:41.3 UTC (15:10:37.2 TD)

Visibility

The total penumbral lunar eclipse was visible over Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, northwestern North America, seen rising over the 30th meridian east and setting over the 150th meridian west on the Equator.

Relations to other lunar eclipses

Eclipses of 1988

• A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 3.
• A total solar eclipse on March 18.
• A partial lunar eclipse on August 27.
• An annular solar eclipse on September 11.

Saros series

This eclipse is part of Saros cycle series 113.

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1988–1991
Descending node					Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type Viewing	Gamma		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
113	1988 Mar 03	Penumbral	0.98855		118	1988 Aug 27	Partial	−0.86816
123	1989 Feb 20	Total	0.29347		128	1989 Aug 17	Total	−0.14905
133	1990 Feb 09	Total	−0.41481		138	1990 Aug 06	Partial	0.63741
143	1991 Jan 30	Penumbral	−1.07522		148	1991 Jul 26	Penumbral	1.43698
Last set	1987 Apr 14				Last set	1987 Oct 07
Next set	1991 Dec 21				Next set	1991 Jun 27

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 be in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

1988 Mar 03.675 – Partial (113) 2007 Mar 03.972 – Total (123) 2026 Mar 03.481 – Total (133) 2045 Mar 03.320 – Penumbral (143)	1988 Aug 27.461 – partial (118) 2007 Aug 28.442 – total (128) 2026 Aug 28.175 – partial (138) 2045 Aug 27.578 – penumbral (148)

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[3] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 120.

February 26, 1979	March 9, 1997