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May 1939 lunar eclipse
Total lunar eclipse May 3, 1939 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, May 3, 1939,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.1765. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. 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. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 5.2 days after perigee (on April 28, 1939, at 11:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
This lunar eclipse was the third of an almost tetrad, with the others being on May 14, 1938 (total); November 7, 1938 (total); and October 28, 1939 (partial).
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Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over east Asia, Australia, and Antarctica, seen rising over central and east Africa, eastern Europe, and west, central, and south Asia and setting over western North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean.[3]
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Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
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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.
Related eclipses
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Eclipses in 1939
- An annular solar eclipse on April 19.
- A total lunar eclipse on May 3.
- A total solar eclipse on October 12.
- A partial lunar eclipse on October 28.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 16, 1935
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 20, 1943
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 22, 1932
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 14, 1946
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 28, 1930
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 3, 1928
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 2, 1950
Lunar Saros 130
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1921
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 13, 1957
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 24, 1910
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 13, 1968
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 1, 1852
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 2026
Lunar eclipses of 1937–1940
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 March 23, 1940 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 130
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 10, 1416. It contains partial eclipses from September 4, 1560 through April 12, 1903; total eclipses from April 22, 1921 through September 11, 2155; and a second set of partial eclipses from September 21, 2173 through May 10, 2552. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on July 26, 2678.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 53 seconds on June 26, 2029. 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 solar eclipses of Solar Saros 137.
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See also
Notes
External links
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