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May 1956 lunar eclipse
A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, May 24, 1956,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.9647. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in 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 4.3 days before apogee (on May 28, 1956, at 22:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2] This lunar eclipse was the first of an almost tetrad, with the others being on November 18, 1956 (total); May 13, 1957 (total); and November 7, 1957 (total). This was the first eclipse of the last partial set in Lunar Saros 120. VisibilityThe eclipse was completely visible over east Asia, Australia, and Antarctica, seen rising over central and east Africa, eastern Europe, and the western half of Asia and setting over the eastern Pacific Ocean.[3]
Eclipse detailsShown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
Eclipse seasonThis 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.
Related eclipsesEclipses in 1956
Metonic
Tzolkinex
Half-Saros
Tritos
Lunar Saros 120
Inex
Triad
Lunar eclipses of 1955–1958
Tritos seriesThe tritos series repeats 31 days short of 11 years at alternating nodes. Sequential events have incremental Saros cycle indices. This series produces 20 total eclipses between April 24, 1967 and August 11, 2185, only being partial on November 19, 2021.
Half-Saros cycleA lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[5] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 127.
See alsoNotes
External links
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