February 1970 lunar eclipse

Partial lunar eclipse February 21, 1970

Partial eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

February 21, 1970

Gamma

0.9620

Magnitude

0.0464

Saros cycle

113 (61 of 71)

Partiality

52 minutes, 40 seconds

Penumbral

298 minutes, 32 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	6:00:46
U1	8:03:45
Greatest	8:30:03
U4	8:56:26
P4	10:59:18

← September 1969 August 1970 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Saturday, February 21, 1970, with an umbral magnitude of 0.0464. 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 2.4 days after apogee (on February 18, 1970, at 23:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, North America, and northwestern South America, seen rising over east Asia and Australia and setting over much of South America, western Europe, and west Africa.

Eclipse details

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

February 21, 1970 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.14027
Umbral Magnitude	0.04639
Gamma	0.96198
Sun Right Ascension	22h17m07.7s
Sun Declination	-10°39'28.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'10.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	10h18m43.4s
Moon Declination	+11°26'05.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'47.0"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°54'15.2"
ΔT	40.3 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1969–1973

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1969–1973
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
108	1969 Aug 27	Penumbral	−1.54066	113	1970 Feb 21	Partial	0.96198
118	1970 Aug 17	Partial	−0.80534	123	1971 Feb 10	Total	0.27413
128	1971 Aug 06	Total	−0.07944	133	1972 Jan 30	Total	−0.42729
138	1972 Jul 26	Partial	0.71167	143	1973 Jan 18	Penumbral	−1.08446
148	1973 Jul 15	Penumbral	1.51782

Last set	1969 Sep 25			Last set	1969 Apr 02

Next set	1973 Jun 15			Next set	1973 Dec 10

Metonic series

This is the third of five Metonic lunar eclipses.

The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Metonic lunar eclipse sets 1951–2027
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type	Saros	Date	Type
103	1951 Feb 21.88	Penumbral	108	1951 Aug 17.13	Penumbral

113	1970 Feb 21.35	Partial	118	1970 Aug 17.14	Partial

123	1989 Feb 20.64	Total	128	1989 Aug 17.13	Total

133	2008 Feb 21.14	Total	138	2008 Aug 16.88	Partial

143	2027 Feb 20.96	Penumbral	148	2027 Aug 17.30	Penumbral

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 120.