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March 1997 lunar eclipse
Partial lunar eclipse March 24, 1997 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Monday, March 24, 1997,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.9195. 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 3.2 days after apogee (on March 20, 1997, at 23:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]
This lunar eclipse was the third of an almost tetrad, with the others being on April 4, 1996 (total); September 27, 1996 (total); and September 16, 1997 (total).
This was the last of the first set of partial eclipses in Lunar Saros 132.
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Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over much of North America and South America, seen rising over western North America and the central Pacific Ocean and setting over Africa, Europe, and west and central Asia.[3]
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Gallery
- Hayward, California, 5:00 UT
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
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.
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Related eclipses
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Eclipses in 1997
- A total solar eclipse on March 9.
- A partial lunar eclipse on March 24.
- A partial solar eclipse on September 2.
- A total lunar eclipse on September 16.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 1993
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 2001
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 1990
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 4, 2004
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 1986
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 21, 2008
Lunar Saros 132
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1979
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 2015
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 13, 1968
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2026
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 24, 1910
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 22, 2084
Lunar eclipses of 1995–1998
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.[5]
The penumbral lunar eclipse on August 8, 1998 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 132
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 132, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 12, 1492. It contains partial eclipses from August 16, 1636 through March 24, 1997; total eclipses from April 4, 2015 through August 2, 2213; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 13, 2231 through November 30, 2411. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 26, 2754.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 36 at 106 minutes, 6 seconds on June 9, 2123. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[6]
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.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 139.
March 18, 1988 | March 29, 2006 |
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Notes
External links
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