July 1953 lunar eclipse

Summary

Total Lunar Eclipse
July 26, 1953
(No photo)

The moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals.
Series 128 (37 of 71)
Gamma -0.0071
Magnitude 1.8628
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality 1:40:42
Partial 3:35:42
Penumbral 5:26:30
Contacts (UTC)
P1 9:37:55
U1 10:33:19
U2 11:30:49
Greatest 12:21:10
U3 13:11:31
U4 14:09:01
P4 15:04:25

A total lunar eclipse took place on Sunday, July 26, 1953.

The Moon passed through the very center of the Earth's shadow. While the visual effect of a total lunar eclipse is variable, the Moon may have been stained a deep orange or red colour at maximum eclipse. This was a great spectacle for everyone who saw it from Australia as well as parts of Asia, Korea, New Zealand and Hawaii. The partial lunar eclipse lasted for 3 hours and 35 minutes 42 seconds in total. With an umbral lunar eclipse magnitude of 1.8628, this was the largest lunar eclipse of the 20th century. Gamma had a value of only -0.0071. Due to the Moon's relatively large size, totality lasted 100 minutes 42 seconds unlike July 16, 2000 which lasted 106 minutes 25 seconds, the longest since August 13, 1859 (which was only 3 seconds longer). This was the darkest total lunar eclipse in the 20th century.

Visibility edit

It can all be seen from Australia, is seen rising in East Asia and is seen in North and South America. It is also visible from Korea as well as New Zealand and Hawaii, including Vietnam

 

Related lunar eclipses edit

Lunar year series edit

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1951–1955
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
103 1951 Feb 21
 
Penumbral
 
108 1951 Aug 17
 
Penumbral
 
113 1952 Feb 11
 
Partial
 
118 1952 Aug 5
 
Partial
 
123 1953 Jan 29
 
Total
 
128 1953 Jul 26
 
Total
 
133 1954 Jan 19
 
Total
 
138 1954 Jul 16
 
Partial
 
143 1955 Jan 8
 
Penumbral
 
Last set 1951 Mar 23 Last set 1951 Sep 15
Next set 1955 Nov 29 Next set 1955 Jun 5

Saros series edit

Lunar saros series 128, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 57 umbral eclipses (42 partial lunar eclipses and 15 total lunar eclipses). Solar Saros 135 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Greatest First
 
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1953 Jul 26, lasting 108 minutes.[1]
Penumbral Partial Total Central
1304 Jun 18 1430 Sep 2 1845 May 21 1899 Jun 23
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
2007 Aug 28 2097 May 21 2440 May 17 2566 Aug 2
1901–2100
1917 Jul 4 1935 Jul 16 1953 Jul 26            
1971 Aug 6 1989 Aug 17 2007 Aug 28
           
2025 Sep 7 2043 Sep 19 2061 Sep 29
           
2079 Oct 10 2097 Oct 21
       

Lunar Saros 128 contains 15 total lunar eclipses between 1845 and 2097 (in years 1845, 1863, 1881, 1899, 1917, 1935, 1953, 1971, 1989, 2007, 2025, 2043, 2061, 2079 and 2097). Solar Saros 135 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Inex series edit

The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 39.

All events in this series listed below and more are total lunar eclipses.

Inex series from 1000 to 2500 AD
Ascending node Descending node Ascending node Descending node
Saros Date Saros Date Saros Date Saros Date
96 1027 Apr 23 97 1056 Apr 2 98 1085 Mar 14 99 1114 Feb 21
100 1143 Feb 1 101 1172 Jan 13 102 1200 Dec 22 103 1229 Dec 2
104 1258 Nov 12 105 1287 Oct 22 106 1316 Oct 2 107 1345 Sep 12
108 1374 Aug 22 109 1403 Aug 2 110 1432 Jul 13 111 1461 Jun 22
112 1490 Jun 2 113 1519 May 14 114 1548 Apr 22 115 1577 Apr 2
116 1606 Mar 24 117 1635 Mar 3 118 1664 Feb 11 119 1693 Jan 22
120 1722 Jan 2 121 1750 Dec 13 122 1779 Nov 23 123 1808 Nov 3
124 1837 Oct 13 125 1866 Sep 24 126 1895 Sep 4 127 1924 Aug 14
128 1953 Jul 26
 
129 1982 Jul 6
 
130 2011 Jun 15
 
131 2040 May 26
 
132 2069 May 6
 
133 2098 Apr 15
 
134 2127 Mar 28 135 2156 Mar 7
136 2185 Feb 14 137 2214 Jan 27 138 2243 Jan 7 139 2271 Dec 17
140 2300 Nov 27 141 2329 Nov 7 142 2358 Oct 18 143 2387 Sep 28
144 2416 Sep 7 145 2445 Aug 17 146 2474 Jul 29

Half-Saros cycle edit

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[2] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 135.

July 20, 1944 July 31, 1962
   

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Listing of Eclipses of cycle 128
  2. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros

External links edit

  • NASA: Lunar Eclipses: Past and Future
    • 1953 Jul 26 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
    • Index to Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses, -1999 to +3000 (2000 BCE to 3000 CE)
      • Eclipses: 1901 to 2000[dead link]
  • Photoelectric Photometry of the Lunar Eclipse of July 26, 1953, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 69, No. 407, p.153

References edit

  • Bao-Lin Liu, Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1500 B.C.-A.D. 3000, 1992