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Step 1
Turn to the phenomena section of your ephemeris and find the box or table for moon phases and eclipses.
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Step 2
Note the symbol used for lunar eclipse and the symbol for solar eclipse.
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Step 3
Read on and you will see that there are three types of lunar eclipses with symbols for each. The "A" is for an appulse lunar eclipse--which is a penumbra eclipse where the moon enters only the penumbra of the earth. A "P" is for a partial eclipse. The "T" is for a total eclipse of the moon.
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Step 4
Move on to the section about solar eclipses. You will see there are six kinds of these eclipses with corresponding symbols. There is "P" for partial and a "T" for a total eclipse of the sun by the moon. There is an "A" or annular eclipse, which is a total eclipse, but it does not quite appear so because the eclipse happens so far away from the Earth. There is an "AT" for annular-total, which is a total for part of the eclipse's path and annular for the rest. There is an "A non-C" for a rare kind of annular eclipse, and there is a "T non-C," a rare kind of total eclipse.
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Step 5
Look at the sample box or table again for moon phases and eclipses, and you will see a day of the month, hour and minute given for the time of each eclipse (and moon phases). These are the times of greatest eclipse and are not necessarily the time of the conjunction of the eclipse by longitude.
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Step 6
Note that the magnitude is given for partial eclipses. The time length in minutes and seconds is given for total and annular eclipses.
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Step 7
Turn to whatever day, month and year in which you are interested in eclipse information. Look at the chart or box for moon phases and eclipses on this page, which is like the sample one you studied in the front of the book in the phenomena section. Now that you understand what the symbols and times and numbers mean, you can look at real data.
