August 1961 lunar eclipse - Misplaced Pages

Partial lunar eclipse August 26, 1961

August 1961 lunar eclipse

Partial eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

August 26, 1961

Gamma

−0.4895

Magnitude

0.9863

Saros cycle

137 (25 of 81)

Partiality

185 minutes, 58 seconds

Penumbral

301 minutes, 22 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	0:37:36
U1	1:35:18
Greatest	3:08:17
U4	4:41:16
P4	5:38:58

← March 1961 February 1962 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Saturday, August 26, 1961, with an umbral magnitude of 0.9863. 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. Occurring only about 7.5 hours after perigee (on August 25, 1961, at 19:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

This nearly total lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 137 preceded the first total eclipse on September 6, 1979. It was also the largest partial lunar eclipse since October 28, 1939, making it the second largest partial lunar eclipse of the 20th century.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over eastern North America, South America, west Africa, western Europe, and Antarctica, seen rising over western and central North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean and setting over much of Europe, central and east Africa, and west and central Asia.

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

August 26, 1961 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.93301
Umbral Magnitude	0.98626
Gamma	−0.48947
Sun Right Ascension	10h18m26.0s
Sun Declination	+10°31'58.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'49.7"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.7"
Moon Right Ascension	22h18m58.5s
Moon Declination	-11°00'55.6"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'43.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	1°01'21.5"
ΔT	33.8 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1958–1962

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 lunar eclipses on May 3, 1958 (partial) and October 28, 1958 (penumbral) occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipse on July 17, 1962 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1958 to 1962
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
102	1958 Apr 04	Penumbral	−1.5381
112	1959 Mar 24	Partial	−0.8757	117	1959 Sep 17	Penumbral	1.0296
122	1960 Mar 13	Total	−0.1799	127	1960 Sep 05	Total	0.2422
132	1961 Mar 02	Partial	0.5541	137	1961 Aug 26	Partial	−0.4895
142	1962 Feb 19	Penumbral	1.2512	147	1962 Aug 15	Penumbral	−1.2210

Saros 137

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 137, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 78 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on December 17, 1564. It contains partial eclipses from June 10, 1835 through August 26, 1961; total eclipses from September 6, 1979 through June 28, 2466; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 9, 2484 through September 12, 2592. The series ends at member 78 as a penumbral eclipse on April 20, 2953.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 44 at 99 minutes, 53 seconds on April 13, 2340. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2340 Apr 13, lasting 99 minutes, 53 seconds.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1564 Dec 17	1835 Jun 10	1979 Sep 06	2051 Oct 19
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2412 May 26	2466 Jun 28	2592 Sep 12	2953 Apr 20

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 15–36 occur between 1801 and 2200:
15	16	17
1817 May 30	1835 Jun 10	1853 Jun 21

18	19	20
1871 Jul 02	1889 Jul 12	1907 Jul 25

21	22	23
1925 Aug 04	1943 Aug 15	1961 Aug 26

24	25	26
1979 Sep 06	1997 Sep 16	2015 Sep 28

27	28	29
2033 Oct 08	2051 Oct 19	2069 Oct 30

30	31	32
2087 Nov 10	2105 Nov 21	2123 Dec 03

33	34	35
2141 Dec 13	2159 Dec 24	2178 Jan 04

36
2196 Jan 15

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 144.