October 1939 lunar eclipse - Misplaced Pages

Partial lunar eclipse October 28, 1939

October 1939 lunar eclipse

Partial eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

October 28, 1939

Gamma

−0.4581

Magnitude

0.9876

Saros cycle

135 (19 of 71)

Partiality

203 minutes, 22 seconds

Penumbral

346 minutes, 5 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	3:43:14
U1	4:54:40
Greatest	6:36:19
U4	8:18:01
P4	9:29:19

← May 1939 March 1940 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Saturday, October 28, 1939, with an umbral magnitude of 0.9876. 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 about 5.3 days after apogee (on October 23, 1939, at 0:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

This lunar eclipse was the last of an almost tetrad, with the others being on May 14, 1938 (total); November 7, 1938 (total); and May 3, 1939 (total).

This was the last partial lunar eclipse of the first set of partial eclipses in Lunar Saros 135 as well as the largest partial lunar eclipse of the 20th century.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over North America and western South America, seen rising over northeast Asia and eastern Australia and setting over eastern South America, west and central Africa, and Europe.

Eclipse details

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

October 28, 1939 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	2.04769
Umbral Magnitude	0.98764
Gamma	−0.45812
Sun Right Ascension	14h06m46.1s
Sun Declination	-12°50'04.8"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'05.9"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	02h07m11.5s
Moon Declination	+12°25'18.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'11.2"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°55'44.2"
ΔT	24.4 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1937–1940

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1937–1940
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Date viewing	Type chart	Saros	Date viewing	Type chart
110	1937 May 25	Penumbral	115	1937 Nov 18	Partial
120	1938 May 14	Total	125	1938 Nov 07	Total
130	1939 May 03	Total	135	1939 Oct 28	Partial
140	1940 Apr 22	Penumbral	145	1940 Oct 16	Penumbral

Saros 135

It was part of Saros series 135.

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 142.