en May 1958 lunar eclipse

May 1958 lunar eclipse
Partial eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	May 3, 1958
Gamma	1.0188
Magnitude	0.0092
Saros cycle	140 (22 of 80)
Partiality	21 minutes, 2 seconds
Penumbral	242 minutes, 13 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	10:11:48
U1	12:02:22
Greatest	12:12:57
U4	12:23:24
P4	14:14:01
	← April 1958 October 1958 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 3, 1958,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.0092. 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 1.2 days after perigee (on May 2, 1958, at 7:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, Australia, and Antarctica, seen rising over east, southeast, and south Asia and setting over much of North America and western South 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]

May 3, 1958 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.96760
Umbral Magnitude	0.00919
Gamma	1.01884
Sun Right Ascension	02h40m25.8s
Sun Declination	+15°36'27.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'51.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	14h41m19.7s
Moon Declination	-14°35'56.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'33.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	1°00'44.9"
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

Related eclipses

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

Half-Saros cycle

A 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 partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 147.

April 28, 1949	May 9, 1967

Notes

^ "May 3, 1958 Partial Lunar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1958 May 03" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1958 May 03". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 25 December 2024.
^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros