March 1951 lunar eclipse

March 1951 lunar eclipse

Penumbral eclipse
The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	March 23, 1951
Gamma	−1.2099
Magnitude	−0.3660
Saros cycle	141 (20 of 73)
Penumbral	214 minutes, 19 seconds
Contacts (UTC) P1 8:50:00 Greatest 10:37:04 P4 12:24:19
← February 1951 August 1951 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Friday, March 23, 1951,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.3660. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon's near side passes into the Earth's penumbra. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. Occurring about 3.9 days before perigee (on March 27, 1951, at 8:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

This eclipse was the second of four penumbral lunar eclipses in 1951, with the others occurring on February 21, August 17, and September 15.

The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, eastern Australia, and western North America, seen rising over east and southeast Asia and western Australia and setting over eastern North America and South America.^[3]

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.^[4]

March 23, 1951 Lunar Eclipse Parameters

Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.64195
Umbral Magnitude	−0.36599
Gamma	−1.20994
Sun Right Ascension	00h07m18.6s
Sun Declination	+00°47'32.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'02.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.8"
Moon Right Ascension	12h05m01.7s
Moon Declination	-01°49'23.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'55.2"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°58'25.6"
ΔT	29.6 s

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.

Eclipse season of February–March 1951

February 21 Descending node (full moon)	March 7 Ascending node (new moon)	March 23 Descending node (full moon)
Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 103	Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 129	Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 141

• A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 21.
• An annular solar eclipse on March 7.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 17.
• An annular solar eclipse on September 1.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 15.

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 3, 1947
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 8, 1955

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 1944
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 3, 1958

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 16, 1942
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 27, 1960

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1940
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 19, 1962

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 12, 1933
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 2, 1969

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 11, 1922
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 1, 1980

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 21, 1864
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 21, 2038

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1947–1951

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date viewing	Type chart		Saros	Date viewing	Type chart
111	1948 Apr 23	Partial		116	1948 Oct 18	Penumbral
121	1949 Apr 13	Total		126	1949 Oct 07	Total
131	1950 Apr 02	Total		136	1950 Sep 26	Total
141	1951 Mar 23	Penumbral		146	1951 Sep 15	Penumbral

Lunar Saros 141, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 72 lunar eclipse events including 26 total lunar eclipses.

First Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 1608 Aug 25

First Partial Lunar Eclipse: 2041 May 16

First Total Lunar Eclipse: 2167 Aug 01

First Central Lunar Eclipse: 2221 Sep 02

Greatest Eclipse of the Lunar Saros 141: 2293 Oct 16

Last Central Lunar Eclipse: 2546 Mar 18

Last Total Lunar Eclipse: 2618 May 01

Last Partial Lunar Eclipse: 2744 Jul 16

Last Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: 2888 Oct 11

1901-2100

March 1915 lunar eclipse

March 1933 lunar eclipse

March 1951 lunar eclipse

April 1969 lunar eclipse

April 1987 lunar eclipse

April 2005 lunar eclipse

May 2023 lunar eclipse

May 2041 lunar eclipse

May 2059 lunar eclipse

June 2077 lunar eclipse

June 2095 lunar eclipse

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[5] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 148.

March 16, 1942	March 27, 1960

• List of lunar eclipses
• List of 20th-century lunar eclipses

• 1951 Mar 23 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC