May 1939 lunar eclipse - Misplaced Pages

Total lunar eclipse May 3, 1939

May 1939 lunar eclipse

Total eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

May 3, 1939

Gamma

0.3693

Magnitude

1.1765

Saros cycle

130 (30 of 72)

Totality

62 minutes, 23 seconds

Partiality

207 minutes, 3 seconds

Penumbral

333 minutes, 31 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	12:24:35
U1	13:27:45
U2	14:40:06
Greatest	15:11:18
U3	15:42:28
U4	16:54:48
P4	17:58:06

← November 1938 October 1939 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, May 3, 1939, with an umbral magnitude of 1.1765. 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 5.2 days after perigee (on April 28, 1939, at 11:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

This lunar eclipse was the third of an almost tetrad, with the others being on May 14, 1938 (total); November 7, 1938 (total); and October 28, 1939 (partial).

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over east Asia, Australia, and Antarctica, seen rising over central and east Africa, eastern Europe, and west, central, and south Asia and setting over western North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Eclipse details

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

May 3, 1939 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.18417
Umbral Magnitude	1.17649
Gamma	0.36934
Sun Right Ascension	02h39m22.9s
Sun Declination	+15°31'43.2"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'51.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	14h39m41.4s
Moon Declination	-15°10'51.4"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'44.6"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°57'46.6"
ΔT	24.2 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1939

Lunar eclipses of 1937–1940

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 eclipse on March 23, 1940 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1937 to 1940
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
110	1937 May 25	Penumbral	−1.1582	115	1937 Nov 18	Partial	0.9421
120	1938 May 14	Total	−0.3994	125	1938 Nov 07	Total	0.2739
130	1939 May 03	Total	0.3693	135	1939 Oct 28	Partial	−0.4581
140	1940 Apr 22	Penumbral	1.0741	145	1940 Oct 16	Penumbral	−1.1925

Saros 130

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 10, 1416. It contains partial eclipses from September 4, 1560 through April 12, 1903; total eclipses from April 22, 1921 through September 11, 2155; and a second set of partial eclipses from September 21, 2173 through May 10, 2552. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on July 26, 2678.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 53 seconds on June 26, 2029. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2029 Jun 26, lasting 101 minutes, 53 seconds.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1416 Jun 10	1560 Sep 04	1921 Apr 22	1975 May 25
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2083 Jul 29	2155 Sep 11	2552 May 10	2678 Jul 26

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 23–44 occur between 1801 and 2200:
23	24	25
1813 Feb 15	1831 Feb 26	1849 Mar 09

26	27	28
1867 Mar 20	1885 Mar 30	1903 Apr 12

29	30	31
1921 Apr 22	1939 May 03	1957 May 13

32	33	34
1975 May 25	1993 Jun 04	2011 Jun 15

35	36	37
2029 Jun 26	2047 Jul 07	2065 Jul 17

38	39	40
2083 Jul 29	2101 Aug 09	2119 Aug 20

41	42	43
2137 Aug 30	2155 Sep 11	2173 Sep 21

44
2191 Oct 02

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 35.

Series events from 1500–2500
Descending node		Ascending node		Descending node		Ascending node
Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart
115	1505 Feb 18	116	1534 Jan 30	117	1563 Jan 9	118	1591 Dec 30
119	1620 Dec 9	120	1649 Nov 19	121	1678 Oct 29	122	1707 Oct 11
123	1736 Sep 20	124	1765 Aug 30	125	1794 Aug 11	126	1823 Jul 23
127	1852 Jul 1	128	1881 Jun 12	129	1910 May 24	130	1939 May 3
131	1968 Apr 13	132	1997 Mar 24	133	2026 Mar 3	134	2055 Feb 11
135	2084 Jan 22	136	2113 Jan 2	137	2141 Dec 13	138	2170 Nov 23
139	2199 Nov 2	140	2228 Oct 14	141	2257 Sep 24	142	2286 Sep 3
143	2315 Aug 16	144	2344 Jul 26	145	2373 Jul 5	146	2402 Jun 16
147	2431 May 27	148	2460 May 5	149	2489 Apr 16

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 solar eclipses of Solar Saros 137.