April 1958 lunar eclipse

April 1958 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
DateApril 4, 1958
Gamma−1.5381
Magnitude−0.9421
Saros cycle102 (84 of 84)
Penumbral31 minutes, 2 seconds
Contacts (UTC)
P13:44:10
Greatest3:59:43
P44:15:12

A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Friday, April 4, 1958,[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.9421. 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 only about 16.5 hours before perigee (on April 3, 1958, at 20:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

This was the last penumbral lunar eclipse in Lunar Saros 102. In this extremely marginal eclipse, the Moon barely clipped the edge of the Earth's penumbral shadow. This caused a microscopic darkening of just 1% of the Moon's disc for about 31 minutes, which was essentially impossible to see.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over North America, South America, most of Africa and western Europe.[3]

Eclipse details

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

April 4, 1958 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Penumbral Magnitude 0.01359
Umbral Magnitude −0.94211
Gamma −1.53805
Sun Right Ascension 00h51m06.5s
Sun Declination +05°28'40.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'59.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 12h49m12.4s
Moon Declination -06°58'45.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'43.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'24.6"
ΔT 32.4 s

Eclipse season

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 April–May 1958
April 4
Ascending node (full moon)
April 19
Descending node (new moon)
May 3
Ascending node (full moon)
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 102
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 128
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 140

Eclipses in 1958

Tzolkinex

Lunar Saros 102

Lunar eclipses of 1958–1962

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1958–1962
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Gamma Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Gamma
102 1958 Apr 04
Penumbral
-1.53805
112 1959 Mar 24
Partial
-0.87571 117 1959 Sep 17
Penumbral
1.02963
122 1960 Mar 13
Total
-0.17990 127 1960 Sep 05
Total
0.24219
132 1961 Mar 02
Partial
0.55406 137 1961 Aug 26
Partial
-0.48947
142 1962 Feb 19
Penumbral
1.25115 147 1962 Aug 15
Penumbral
-1.22104
Last set 1958 May 03 Last set 1958 Oct 27
Next set 1963 Jan 09 Next set 1962 Jul 17

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "April 3–4, 1958 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
  3. ^ "Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 1958 Apr 04" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Penumbral Lunar Eclipse of 1958 Apr 04". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 25 December 2024.