en March 1942 lunar eclipse

March 1942 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	March 3, 1942
Gamma	−0.1545
Magnitude	1.5612
Saros cycle	122 (52 of 75)
Totality	95 minutes, 54 seconds
Partiality	219 minutes, 40 seconds
Penumbral	344 minutes, 18 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	21:29:16
U1	22:31:40
U2	23:33:32
Greatest	0:21:28
U3	1:09:26
U4	2:11:19
P4	3:13:34
	← September 1941 August 1942 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, March 3, 1942,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.5612. 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 5.5 days before perigee (on March 8, 1942, at 11:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over eastern South America, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, seen rising over North America and west and central South America and setting over much of Asia and western Australia.^[3]

Eclipse details

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

March 3, 1942 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.58789
Umbral Magnitude	1.56118
Gamma	−0.15453
Sun Right Ascension	22h52m50.5s
Sun Declination	-07°08'24.4"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'08.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	10h52m40.2s
Moon Declination	+06°59'52.2"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'42.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°57'40.1"
ΔT	25.4 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.

Eclipse season of March 1942
March 3 Ascending node (full moon)	March 16 Descending node (new moon)

Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 122	Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 148

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1940–1944

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 penumbral lunar eclipses on April 22, 1940 and October 16, 1940 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipses on July 6, 1944 and December 29, 1944 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1940 to 1944
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
102	1940 Mar 23	Penumbral	−1.5034	107
112	1941 Mar 13	Partial	−0.8437	117	1941 Sep 05	Partial	0.9747
122	1942 Mar 03	Total	−0.1545	127	1942 Aug 26	Total	0.1818
132	1943 Feb 20	Partial	0.5752	137	1943 Aug 15	Partial	−0.5534
142	1944 Feb 09	Penumbral	1.2698	147	1944 Aug 04	Penumbral	−1.2843

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 129.