October 1948 lunar eclipse

Summary

A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on Monday, October 18, 1948. It was a relatively rare total penumbral lunar eclipse where the moon passes entirely within the penumbral shadow, but not at all in the darker umbral shadow. In a rare total penumbral eclipse, the entire Moon was partially shaded by the Earth (though none of it was in complete shadow), and the shading across the Moon should have been quite visible at maximum eclipse. The penumbral phase lasted for 4 hours and 40 minutes in all, though for most of it, the eclipse was extremely difficult or impossible to see.

Visibility edit

 

Related lunar eclipses edit

Lunar year series edit

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1947–1951
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
Saros Date
Viewing
Type
Chart
111 1948 Apr 23
 
Partial
 
116 1948 Oct 18
 
Penumbral
 
121 1949 Apr 13
 
Total
 
126 1949 Oct 07
 
Total
 
131 1950 Apr 02
 
Total
 
136 1950 Sep 26
 
Total
 
141 1951 Mar 23
 
Penumbral
 
146 1951 Sep 15
 
Penumbral
 

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).[1] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 123.

October 12, 1939 October 23, 1957
   

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros

External links edit