en February 1962 lunar eclipse

February 1962 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	February 19, 1962
Gamma	1.2512
Magnitude	−0.4865
Saros cycle	142 (15 of 74)
Penumbral	231 minutes, 56 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	11:07:08
Greatest	13:03:08
P4	14:59:04
	← August 1961 July 1962 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Monday, February 19, 1962,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.4865. 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 1.3 days before apogee (on February 20, 1962, at 20:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.^[2]

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over east and northeast Asia, Australia, and northwestern North America, seen rising over the western half of Asia and setting over much of North America.^[3]

Eclipse details

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

February 19, 1962 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.61204
Umbral Magnitude	−0.48649
Gamma	1.25115
Sun Right Ascension	22h09m56.0s
Sun Declination	-11°19'41.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'10.7"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	10h11m07.8s
Moon Declination	+12°24'59.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'43.6"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°54'02.8"
ΔT	34.1 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.

Eclipse season of February 1962
February 5 Descending node (new moon)	February 19 Ascending node (full moon)

Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 130	Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 142

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1958–1962

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.^[5]

The lunar eclipses on May 3, 1958 (partial) and October 28, 1958 (penumbral) occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipse on July 17, 1962 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1958 to 1962
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
102	1958 Apr 04	Penumbral	−1.5381
112	1959 Mar 24	Partial	−0.8757	117	1959 Sep 17	Penumbral	1.0296
122	1960 Mar 13	Total	−0.1799	127	1960 Sep 05	Total	0.2422
132	1961 Mar 02	Partial	0.5541	137	1961 Aug 26	Partial	−0.4895
142	1962 Feb 19	Penumbral	1.2512	147	1962 Aug 15	Penumbral	−1.2210

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[6] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 149.