A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, March 23, 1940, with an umbral magnitude of −0.8802. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon's near side passes into 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 only about 8.5 hours after perigee (on March 23, 1940, at 11:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
It occurred on Easter Sunday (Gregorian only).
Visibility The eclipse was completely visible over Africa, Europe, and Asia, seen rising over Iceland and parts of the Atlantic Ocean and setting over northeast Asia and Oceania.
Eclipse details Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
+March 23, 1940 Lunar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Penumbral Magnitude 0.07888 Umbral Magnitude −0.88017 Gamma −1.50338 Sun Right Ascension 00h11m07.9s Sun Declination +01°12'22.5" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'02.4" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 12h09m13.6s Moon Declination -02°40'07.6" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'43.5" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'23.1" ΔT 24.5 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 March–April 1940 March 23Ascending node (full moon) April 7Descending node (new moon) April 22Ascending node (full moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 102 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 128 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 140
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1940 A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23. An annular solar eclipse on April 7. A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 22. A total solar eclipse on October 1. A penumbral lunar eclipse on October 16.
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 10, 1933
Tritos Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 21, 1951
Lunar Saros 102 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1922 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1958
Triad Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 24, 2027
Lunar eclipses of 1940–1944
Saros 102 This eclipse is a part of Saros series 102, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 84 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on October 5, 461 AD. It contains partial eclipses from May 20, 840 AD through July 13, 930 AD; total eclipses from July 23, 948 AD through April 20, 1399; and a second set of partial eclipses from May 1, 1417 through July 16, 1543. The series ends at member 84 as a penumbral eclipse on April 4, 1958.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 36 at 104 minutes, 43 seconds on October 7, 1074. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
GreatestFirstThe greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1074 Oct 07, lasting 104 minutes, 43 seconds.Listing of Eclipses of series 102PenumbralPartialTotalCentral461 Oct 05840 May 20948 Jul 23984 Aug 14LastCentralTotalPartialPenumbral1345 Mar 181399 Apr 201543 Jul 161958 Apr 04
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
Series members 76–84 occur between 1801 and 1958: 76 77 781814 Jan 061832 Jan 171850 Jan 28 79 80 811868 Feb 081886 Feb 181904 Mar 02 82 83 841922 Mar 131940 Mar 231958 Apr 04
Tritos series
Series members between 1940 and 2200 1940 Mar 23(Saros 102) 1951 Feb 21(Saros 103) 2027 Jul 18(Saros 110) 2038 Jun 17(Saros 111) 2049 May 17(Saros 112) 2060 Apr 15(Saros 113) 2071 Mar 16(Saros 114) 2082 Feb 13(Saros 115) 2093 Jan 12(Saros 116) 2103 Dec 13(Saros 117) 2114 Nov 12(Saros 118) 2125 Oct 12(Saros 119) 2136 Sep 10(Saros 120) 2147 Aug 11(Saros 121) 2158 Jul 11(Saros 122) 2169 Jun 09(Saros 123) 2180 May 09(Saros 124) 2191 Apr 09(Saros 125)
See also List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses
References
External links Saros series 102