A total lunar eclipse took place on Friday, October 17, 1986, the second of two total lunar eclipses in 1986, the first being on April 24, 1986. The Moon was plunged into darkness for 1 hour, 13 minutes and 41 seconds, in a deep total eclipse which saw the Moon 24.545% of its diameter inside the Earth's umbral shadow. The visual effect of this depends on the state of the Earth's atmosphere, but the Moon may have been stained a deep red colour. The partial eclipse lasted for 3 hours, 36 minutes and 49.5 seconds in total. The Moon was 5.4 days before apogee (Apogee on Thursday, October 23, 1986), making it 3.3% smaller than average.[1]