A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Sunday, April 12, 1903, with an umbral magnitude of 0.9677. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 6.2 days after perigee (on April 5, 1903, at 18:45 UTC) and 7.1 days before apogee (on April 19, 1903, at 4:35 UTC).
This nearly total lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 130 preceded the first total eclipse of the series on April 22, 1921.
It occurred on Easter Sunday (Gregorian only), for the first time since 1846.
Visibility The eclipse was completely visible over eastern South America, Africa, Europe, and Antarctica, seen rising over western South America and much of North America and setting over much of Asia and western Australia.
Eclipse details Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
+April 12, 1903 Lunar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Penumbral Magnitude 1.98771 Umbral Magnitude 0.96765 Gamma 0.47981 Sun Right Ascension 01h17m19.0s Sun Declination +08°10'13.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'57.3" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 13h17m50.3s Moon Declination -07°43'47.7" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'38.4" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'24.1" ΔT 1.6 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–April 1903 March 29Descending node (new moon) April 12Ascending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 118 Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 130
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1903 An annular solar eclipse on March 29. A partial lunar eclipse on April 12. A total solar eclipse on September 21. A partial lunar eclipse on October 6.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 23, 1899 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 29, 1907
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 28, 1896 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 24, 1910
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1894 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1912
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 11, 1892 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 12, 1914
Lunar Saros 130 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 30, 1885 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1921
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 1, 1874 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 22, 1932
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 10, 1816 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 1990
Lunar eclipses of 1901–1904 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.
The penumbral lunar eclipse on March 2, 1904 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Lunar eclipse series sets from 1901 to 1904 Ascending node Descending node Saros DateViewing TypeChart Gamma Saros DateViewing TypeChart Gamma 110 1901 May 03Penumbral −1.0101 115 1901 Oct 27Partial 0.9021 120 1902 Apr 22Total −0.2680 125 1902 Oct 17Total 0.2201 130 1903 Apr 12Partial 0.4798 135 1903 Oct 06Partial −0.5280 140 1904 Mar 31Penumbral 1.1665 145 1904 Sep 24Penumbral −1.2837
Saros 130
Tritos series
Inex series
Half-Saros cycle A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros This lunar eclipse is related to two hybrid solar eclipses of Solar Saros 137. April 6, 1894April 17, 1912
See also List of lunar eclipses List of 20th-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links