A total lunar eclipse took place on Thursday, September 6, 1979, the second of two lunar eclipses in 1979. A shallow total eclipse saw the Moon in relative darkness for 44 minutes and 24.7 seconds. The Moon was 9.358% of its diameter into the Earth's umbral shadow, and should have been significantly darkened. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 11 minutes and 54.1 seconds in total.^[1]

This event followed the annular solar eclipse of August 22, 1979.

Visibility

Related lunar eclipses

Eclipses in 1979

• A total solar eclipse on Monday, 26 February 1979.
• A partial lunar eclipse on Tuesday, 13 March 1979.
• An annular solar eclipse on Wednesday, 22 August 1979.
• A total lunar eclipse on Thursday, 6 September 1979.

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1977–1980
Ascending node					Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
112	1977 Apr 04	Partial	−0.91483		117	1977 Sep 27	Penumbral	1.07682
122	1978 Mar 24	Total	−0.21402		127	1978 Sep 16	Total	0.29510
132	1979 Mar 13	Partial	0.52537		137	1979 Sep 06	Total	−0.43050
142	1980 Mar 01	Penumbral	1.22701		147	1980 Aug 26	Penumbral	−1.16082
Last set	1976 May 13				Last set	1976 Nov 06
Next set	1981 Jan 20				Next set	1980 Jul 27

Saros series

It is part of Saros series 137.

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[2] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 144.

August 31, 1970	September 11, 1988