March 1961 lunar eclipse - Misplaced Pages

Partial lunar eclipse March 2, 1961

March 1961 lunar eclipse

Partial eclipse

The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left

Date

March 2, 1961

Gamma

0.5541

Magnitude

0.8006

Saros cycle

132 (27 of 71)

Partiality

192 minutes, 51 seconds

Penumbral

347 minutes, 38 seconds

Contacts (UTC)
P1	10:34:15
U1	11:51:42
Greatest	13:28:06
U4	15:04:33
P4	16:21:53

← September 1960 August 1961 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, March 2, 1961, with an umbral magnitude of 0.8006. 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 3.7 days after apogee (on February 26, 1961, at 21:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Visibility

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

Eclipse details

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

March 2, 1961 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.88284
Umbral Magnitude	0.80062
Gamma	0.55406
Sun Right Ascension	22h52m38.0s
Sun Declination	-07°09'38.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'08.1"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	10h53m13.0s
Moon Declination	+07°38'40.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter	14'54.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°54'43.0"
ΔT	33.6 s

Eclipse season

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1961

Lunar eclipses of 1958–1962

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1958–1962
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
102	1958 Apr 04	Penumbral	-1.53805
112	1959 Mar 24	Partial	-0.87571	117	1959 Sep 17	Penumbral	1.02963
122	1960 Mar 13	Total	-0.17990	127	1960 Sep 05	Total	0.24219
132	1961 Mar 02	Partial	0.55406	137	1961 Aug 26	Partial	-0.48947
142	1962 Feb 19	Penumbral	1.25115	147	1962 Aug 15	Penumbral	-1.22104

Last set	1958 May 03			Last set	1958 Oct 27

Next set	1963 Jan 09			Next set	1962 Jul 17

Saros 132

Lunar saros series 132, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 44 umbral lunar eclipses (32 partial lunar eclipses and 12 total lunar eclipses).

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2123 Jun 9, lasting 106 minutes.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1492 May 12	1636 Aug 16	2015 Apr 4	2069 May 6
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2177 Jul 11	2213 Aug 2	2429 Dec 11	2754 Jun 26

There are 11 series events between 1901 and 2100, grouped into threes (called an exeligmos), each column with approximately the same viewing longitude on earth.

1901–2100
1907 Jan 29	1925 Feb 8	1943 Feb 20

1961 Mar 2	1979 Mar 13	1997 Mar 24

2015 Apr 4	2033 Apr 14	2051 Apr 26

2069 May 6	2087 May 17

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 139.