August 2017 lunar eclipse
A partial lunar eclipse took place at the Moon's descending node on the evening of 7 August and the morning pre-dawn on 8 August 2017, the second of two lunar eclipses in 2017. The Moon was only slightly covered by the Earth's umbral shadow at maximum eclipse. The Moon's apparent diameter was smaller because the eclipse occurred only 5 days after apogee (Apogee on 2 August 2017).
| Partial eclipse | |||||||||||||
Kuwait City, Kuwait, 19:14 UTC | |||||||||||||
| Date | 7 August 2017 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | 0.8668 | ||||||||||||
| Magnitude | 0.2464 | ||||||||||||
| Saros cycle | 119 (62 of 83) | ||||||||||||
| Partiality | 115 minutes, 15 seconds | ||||||||||||
| Penumbral | 300 minutes, 54 seconds | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
The Moon inside the umbral shadow was a subtle red, but hard to see in contrast to the much brighter Moon in the outer penumbral shadow. The Moon looks red because it is illuminated by sunlight refracted through Earth's atmosphere. The blue light is scattered and absorbed by the atmosphere, leaving red light to shine onto the lunar surface.
The solar eclipse of 21 August 2017, occurred fourteen days later, in the same eclipse season (Middle of the eclipse season occurred on 16 August 2017). It was the first total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States since the solar eclipse of 26 February 1979.