A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, December 19, 1964, with an umbral magnitude of 1.1748. 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 only about 8.5 hours before perigee (on December 19, 1964, at 11:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The eclipse afforded astrophysicist J. M. Saari the opportunity to make infrared pyrometric scans of the lunar surface with improved equipment, following up on Richard W. Shorthill's discovery of "hot spots" in the Tycho crater during the March 13, 1960 eclipse.F. Link, Eclipse Phenomena in Astronomy (Springer, 2012) p119
Visibility The eclipse was completely visible over North and South America, west Africa, Europe, and north Asia, seen rising over the eastern Pacific Ocean and setting over southern and east Africa and the western half of Asia.
Eclipse details Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
+December 19, 1964 Lunar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Penumbral Magnitude 2.14609 Umbral Magnitude 1.17483 Gamma 0.38008 Sun Right Ascension 17h47m56.6s Sun Declination -23°24'54.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'15.4" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 05h47m44.4s Moon Declination +23°48'04.8" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'44.3" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'25.8" ΔT 35.8 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 December 1964 December 4Descending node (new moon) December 19Ascending node (full moon) Partial solar eclipseSolar Saros 122 Total lunar eclipseLunar Saros 134
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1964 A partial solar eclipse on January 14. A partial solar eclipse on June 10. A total lunar eclipse on June 25. A partial solar eclipse on July 9. A partial solar eclipse on December 4. A total lunar eclipse on December 19.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 2, 1961 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 6, 1968
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 7, 1957 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 30, 1972
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 19, 1954 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 18, 1975
Lunar Saros 134 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1946 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 30, 1982
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 8, 1936 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 29, 1993
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 17, 1878 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 19, 2051
Lunar eclipses of 1962–1965
Saros 134
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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 141. December 14, 1955December 24, 1973
See also List of lunar eclipses List of 20th-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links