Total Lunar Eclipse on November 8, 2022

Preliminary Conclusions from Analyses of Photos and Videos

Helio C. Vital

(1) Was the eclipse dark? Yes.

(2) Was the eclipse extremely dark? No.

(3) Was the Moon at mid-totality approximately as dark as predicted based only on its path across the umbra? Yes.

(4) Did the appearance of the totally eclipsed Moon resemble that on May 16? Yes, mostly displaying a rose-colored hue, now with its southern hemisphere darker. Both eclipses had umbral magnitude of 1.4.

(5) What was the magnitude of the Moon at mid-eclipse? Based on several images obtained from the NASA live stream from Maunakea, I estimated it as m =-1.6±0.4, correlated to a Danjon value of L=2.4±0.2, in an excellent agreement with my prediction for this eclipse was m=-1.5±0.4 or -1.3±0.4, including a possible residual 0.2 mag from Tonga.

(6) Was there any influence of volcanic aerosols? No, definitely not.

(7) What about Tonga? Sulfate aerosols lingering in the stratosphere darken the umbra. In January, the Tonga eruption injected 50 million tons of water vapor into the stratosphere but only 0.4 million tons of SO₂. Pinatubo (VEI 6) injected 20 times the latter. That is why Tonga`s dimming effect was so small in May and it is now gone, as VEI 4 eruptions usually do.

(8) And what should be recommended to observers that attribute all dark eclipses to volcanic aerosols? They should read the work of Link, Karkostchka, Mallama etc in order to understand that the deeper the path of the Moon across the umbra is, the dimmer the Moon becomes. Only after taking such effect into account, should they start considering the possibility of darkening by volcanic effects.

LUNISSOLAR ECLIPSE PAGES