August 1971 lunar eclipse - Misplaced Pages

Total lunar eclipse August 6, 1971

August 1971 lunar eclipse

Total eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

August 6, 1971

Gamma

−0.0794

Magnitude

1.7283

Saros cycle

128 (38 of 71)

Totality

99 minutes, 25 seconds

Partiality

215 minutes, 30 seconds

Penumbral

327 minutes, 17 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	16:59:29
U1	17:55:26
U2	18:53:28
Greatest	19:43:10
U3	20:32:53
U4	21:30:56
P4	22:26:46

← February 1971 January 1972 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Friday, August 6, 1971, with an umbral magnitude of 1.7283. It was a central lunar eclipse, in which part of the Moon passed through the center of the Earth's shadow. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. 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. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 2.3 days before perigee (on August 9, 1971, at 2:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over central and east Africa, much of Asia, western Australia, and Antarctica, seen rising over central and eastern South America, Europe, and west Africa and setting over east and northeast Asia and eastern Australia.

Eclipse details

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

August 6, 1971 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.69580
Umbral Magnitude	1.72830
Gamma	−0.07944
Sun Right Ascension	09h04m36.6s
Sun Declination	+16°43'16.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'46.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	21h04m44.2s
Moon Declination	-16°47'39.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'17.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°59'49.1"
ΔT	41.8 s

Eclipse season

Eclipse season of July–August 1971
July 22 Descending node (new moon)	August 6 Ascending node (full moon)	August 20 Descending node (new moon)

Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 116	Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 128	Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 154

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1971

Lunar eclipses of 1969–1973

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.

The penumbral lunar eclipses on April 2, 1969 and September 25, 1969 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the lunar eclipses on June 15, 1973 (penumbral) and December 10, 1973 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1969 to 1973
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
108	1969 Aug 27	Penumbral	−1.5407	113	1970 Feb 21	Partial	0.9620
118	1970 Aug 17	Partial	−0.8053	123	1971 Feb 10	Total	0.2741
128	1971 Aug 06	Total	−0.0794	133	1972 Jan 30	Total	−0.4273
138	1972 Jul 26	Partial	0.7117	143	1973 Jan 18	Penumbral	−1.0845
148	1973 Jul 15	Penumbral	1.5178

Saros 128

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 128, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 18, 1304. It contains partial eclipses from September 2, 1430 through May 11, 1827; total eclipses from May 21, 1845 through October 21, 2097; and a second set of partial eclipses from November 2, 2115 through May 17, 2440. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on August 2, 2566.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 100 minutes, 43 seconds on July 26, 1953. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1953 Jul 26, lasting 100 minutes, 43 seconds.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1304 Jun 18	1430 Sep 02	1845 May 21	1899 Jun 23
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2007 Aug 28	2097 Oct 21	2440 May 17	2566 Aug 02

Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

Series members 29–50 occur between 1801 and 2200:
29	30	31
1809 Apr 30	1827 May 11	1845 May 21

32	33	34
1863 Jun 01	1881 Jun 12	1899 Jun 23

35	36	37
1917 Jul 04	1935 Jul 16	1953 Jul 26

38	39	40
1971 Aug 06	1989 Aug 17	2007 Aug 28

41	42	43
2025 Sep 07	2043 Sep 19	2061 Sep 29

44	45	46
2079 Oct 10	2097 Oct 21	2115 Nov 02

47	48	49
2133 Nov 12	2151 Nov 24	2169 Dec 04

50
2187 Dec 15

Inex series

The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 40.

All events in this series shown (from 1000 to 2500) are central total lunar eclipses.

Inex series from 1000–2500 AD
Descending node		Ascending node		Descending node		Ascending node
Saros	Date	Saros	Date	Saros	Date	Saros	Date
95	1016 May 24	96	1045 May 3	97	1074 Apr 14	98	1103 Mar 25
99	1132 Mar 3	100	1161 Feb 12	101	1190 Jan 23	102	1219 Jan 2
103	1247 Dec 13	104	1276 Nov 23	105	1305 Nov 2	106	1334 Oct 13
107	1363 Sep 23	108	1392 Sep 2	109	1421 Aug 13	110	1450 Jul 24
111	1479 Jul 4	112	1508 Jun 13	113	1537 May 24	114	1566 May 4
115	1595 Apr 24	116	1624 Apr 3	117	1653 Mar 14	118	1682 Feb 21
119	1711 Feb 3	120	1740 Jan 13	121	1768 Dec 23	122	1797 Dec 4
123	1826 Nov 14	124	1855 Oct 25	125	1884 Oct 4	126	1913 Sep 15
127	1942 Aug 26	128	1971 Aug 6	129	2000 Jul 16	130	2029 Jun 26
131	2058 Jun 6	132	2087 May 17	133	2116 Apr 27	134	2145 Apr 7
135	2174 Mar 18	136	2203 Feb 26	137	2232 Feb 7	138	2261 Jan 17
139	2289 Dec 27	140	2318 Dec 9	141	2347 Nov 19	142	2376 Oct 28
143	2405 Oct 8	144	2434 Sep 18	145	2463 Aug 29	146	2492 Aug 8

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 135.