February 1944 lunar eclipse

Penumbral lunar eclipse February 9, 1944

Penumbral eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

February 9, 1944

Gamma

1.2698

Magnitude

−0.5223

Saros cycle

142 (14 of 74)

Penumbral

226 minutes, 39 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	3:21:09
Greatest	5:14:30
P4	7:07:48

← August 1943 July 1944 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, February 9, 1944, with an umbral magnitude of −0.5223. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon's near side passes into 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 1.1 days before apogee (on February 10, 1944, at 7:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

This eclipse was the first of four penumbral lunar eclipses in 1944, with the others occurring on July 6, August 4, and December 29.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over North and South America, west Africa, and western Europe, seen rising over northeast Asia and the central Pacific Ocean and setting over Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Eclipse details

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

February 9, 1944 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	0.57926
Umbral Magnitude	−0.52225
Gamma	1.26983
Sun Right Ascension	21h27m03.0s
Sun Declination	-15°01'28.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'12.7"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	09h28m05.2s
Moon Declination	+16°08'24.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'43.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°54'00.8"
ΔT	26.4 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1940–1944

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.

The penumbral lunar eclipses on April 22, 1940 and October 16, 1940 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipses on July 6, 1944 and December 29, 1944 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1940 to 1944
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
102	1940 Mar 23	Penumbral	−1.5034	107
112	1941 Mar 13	Partial	−0.8437	117	1941 Sep 05	Partial	0.9747
122	1942 Mar 03	Total	−0.1545	127	1942 Aug 26	Total	0.1818
132	1943 Feb 20	Partial	0.5752	137	1943 Aug 15	Partial	−0.5534
142	1944 Feb 09	Penumbral	1.2698	147	1944 Aug 04	Penumbral	−1.2843

Saros 142

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 142, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on September 19, 1709. It contains partial eclipses from May 5, 2088 through July 10, 2196; total eclipses from July 22, 2214 through April 21, 2665; and a second set of partial eclipses from May 3, 2683 through July 29, 2827. The series ends at member 73 as a penumbral eclipse on November 17, 3007.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 34 at 103 minutes, 54 seconds on September 15, 2304. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2304 Sep 15, lasting 103 minutes, 54 seconds.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1709 Sep 19	2088 May 05	2214 Jul 22	2250 Aug 13
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2448 Dec 10	2665 Apr 21	2827 Jul 29	3007 Nov 17

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.

Series members 7–28 occur between 1801 and 2200:
7	8	9
1817 Nov 23	1835 Dec 05	1853 Dec 15

10	11	12
1871 Dec 26	1890 Jan 06	1908 Jan 18

13	14	15
1926 Jan 28	1944 Feb 09	1962 Feb 19

16	17	18
1980 Mar 01	1998 Mar 13	2016 Mar 23

19	20	21
2034 Apr 03	2052 Apr 14	2070 Apr 25

22	23	24
2088 May 05	2106 May 17	2124 May 28

25	26	27
2142 Jun 08	2160 Jun 18	2178 Jun 30

28
2196 Jul 10

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 149.