en November 1938 lunar eclipse

November 1938 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	November 7, 1938
Gamma	0.2739
Magnitude	1.3525
Saros cycle	125 (44 of 72)
Totality	81 minutes, 26 seconds
Partiality	210 minutes, 11 seconds
Penumbral	331 minutes, 28 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	19:40:32
U1	20:41:14
U2	21:45:36
Greatest	22:26:18
U3	23:07:02
U4	0:11:25
P4	1:12:00
	← May 1938 May 1939 →

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Monday, November 7, 1938,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.3525. 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 3.2 days before perigee (on November 11, 1938, at 3:25 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

This lunar eclipse was the second of an almost tetrad, with the others being on May 14, 1938 (total); May 3, 1939 (total); and October 28, 1939 (partial).

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over Africa, Europe, and west and central Asia, seen rising over North and South America and setting over east 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]

November 7, 1938 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.35850
Umbral Magnitude	1.35251
Gamma	0.27386
Sun Right Ascension	14h49m34.6s
Sun Declination	-16°17'56.2"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'08.6"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	02h49m21.3s
Moon Declination	+16°33'44.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'02.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°58'53.8"
ΔT	24.1 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 November 1938
November 7 Descending node (full moon)	November 21 Ascending node (new moon)

Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 125	Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 151

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1937–1940

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1937–1940
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Date viewing	Type chart	Saros	Date viewing	Type chart
110	1937 May 25	Penumbral	115	1937 Nov 18	Partial
120	1938 May 14	Total	125	1938 Nov 07	Total
130	1939 May 03	Total	135	1939 Oct 28	Partial
140	1940 Apr 22	Penumbral	145	1940 Oct 16	Penumbral

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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 132.