en May 1957 lunar eclipse

May 1957 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	May 13, 1957
Gamma	0.3046
Magnitude	1.2982
Saros cycle	130 (31 of 72)
Totality	77 minutes, 39 seconds
Partiality	211 minutes, 36 seconds
Penumbral	334 minutes, 57 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	19:43:30
U1	20:45:06
U2	21:52:05
Greatest	22:30:56
U3	23:09:44
U4	0:16:42
P4	1:18:27
	← November 1956 November 1957 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Monday, May 13, 1957,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.2982. 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 3.25 days after perigee (on May 9, 1957, at 4:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

This lunar eclipse was the third of an almost tetrad, with the others being on May 24, 1956 (partial); November 18, 1956 (total); and November 7, 1957 (total).

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Antarctica, seen rising over eastern North America and South America and setting over much of Asia and 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]

May 13, 1957 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.30005
Umbral Magnitude	1.29822
Gamma	0.30457
Sun Right Ascension	03h21m53.2s
Sun Declination	+18°29'35.8"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'49.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	15h22m04.8s
Moon Declination	-18°12'09.6"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'47.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°57'58.1"
ΔT	32.0 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 April–May 1957
April 30 Descending node (new moon)	May 13 Ascending node (full moon)

Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 118	Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 130

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1957

Lunar eclipses of 1955–1958

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1955–1958
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Date viewing	Type chart	Saros	Date viewing	Type chart
110	1955 Jun 5	Penumbral	115	1955 Nov 29	Partial
120	1956 May 24	Partial	125	1956 Nov 18	Total
130	1957 May 13	Total	135	1957 Nov 7	Total
140	1958 May 3	Partial	145	1958 Oct 27	Penumbral

Last set	1954 Jul 16		Last set	1955 Jan 8

Next set	1958 Apr 4		Next set	1959 Sep 17

Saros 130

Lunar saros series 130, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 56 umbral lunar eclipses (42 partial lunar eclipses and 14 total lunar eclipses). Solar Saros 137 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2029 Jun 26, lasting 102 minutes.^[5]	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1416 Jun 10	1560 Sep 4	1921 Apr 22	1957 May 13
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2083 Jul 29	2155 Sep 11	2552 May 10	2678 Jul 26

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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 137.