A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Tuesday, September 16, 1997,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.1909.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow.

Occurring only about 2.5 hours after perigee (on September 16, 1997, at 16:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 137, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 78 events.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 44 at 99 minutes, 53 seconds on April 13, 2340.

All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.