A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, October 16, 1940, with an umbral magnitude of −0.3749. 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 21 hours after apogee (on October 15, 1940, at 11:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Visibility The eclipse was completely visible over North America and western South America, seen rising over East Asia and Australia and setting over eastern South America, West Africa, and Western Europe.
Eclipse details Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
+October 16, 1940 Lunar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Penumbral Magnitude 0.71567 Umbral Magnitude −0.37489 Gamma −1.19248 Sun Right Ascension 13h24m23.2s Sun Declination -08°52'19.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'03.0" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 01h25m35.5s Moon Declination +07°50'26.8" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'43.0" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'00.7" ΔT 24.7 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 October 1940 October 1Ascending node (new moon) October 16Descending node (full moon) Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 133 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 145
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.
Metonic Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 28, 1936 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 4, 1944
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 4, 1933 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 28, 1947
Half-Saros Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 11, 1931 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 21, 1949
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 17, 1929 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 15, 1951
Lunar Saros 145 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 6, 1922 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 27, 1958
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 6, 1911 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 25, 1969
Triad Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 15, 1853 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 17, 2027
Lunar eclipses of 1937–1940
Saros 145
Tritos series
Series members between 1801 and 2060 1809 Oct 23(Saros 133) 1820 Sep 22(Saros 134) 1831 Aug 23(Saros 135) 1842 Jul 22(Saros 136) 1853 Jun 21(Saros 137) 1864 May 21(Saros 138) 1875 Apr 20(Saros 139) 1886 Mar 20(Saros 140) 1897 Feb 17(Saros 141) 1908 Jan 18(Saros 142) 1918 Dec 17(Saros 143) 1929 Nov 17(Saros 144) 1940 Oct 16(Saros 145) 1951 Sep 15(Saros 146) 1962 Aug 15(Saros 147) 1973 Jul 15(Saros 148) 1984 Jun 13(Saros 149) 2060 Nov 08(Saros 156)
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 partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 152. October 11, 1931October 21, 1949
See also List of lunar eclipses List of 20th-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links