| Total Lunar Eclipse 16 May 2003 | |
|---|---|
 From Minneapolis, MN, 3:17 UTC | |
 The moon's path through the Earth's shadow. | |
| Series (and member) | 121 (54 of 82) |
| Gamma | 0.4123 |
| Magnitude | 1.12759 |
| Duration (hr:mn:sc) | |
| Totality | 51:25 |
| Partial | 3:13:53 |
| Penumbral | 5:06:31 |
| Contacts (UTC) | |
| P1 | 1:06:53 |
| U1 | 2:03:11 |
| U2 | 3:14:26 |
| Greatest | 3:40:09 |
| U3 | 4:05:51 |
| U4 | 5:17:05 |
| P4 | 6:13:24 |
 The moon's path across the Earth's shadow near its descending node in Libra. | |
A total lunar eclipse took place on Friday 16 May 2003, the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2003, the other being on 9 November 2003. A shallow total eclipse saw the Moon in relative darkness for 52 minutes and 3.1 seconds. The Moon was 12.938% of its diameter into the Earth's umbral shadow, and should have been significantly darkened. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 15 minutes and 3.1 seconds in total. Occurring only 0.5 days after perigee (Perigee on Thursday 15 May 2003), the Moon's apparent diameter was 6.2% larger than average. At greatest eclipse the Moon was only 357,693 km (222,260 mi) from the Earth, making it a Super Full Moon.
This lunar eclipse is first of a tetrad, four total lunar eclipses in series. The previous series was in 1985 and 1986, starting with a May 1985 lunar eclipse. The next one was in 2014 and 2015, starting with the 15 April 2014 lunar eclipse.