August 1942 lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 26, 1942, with an umbral magnitude of 1.5344. It was a central lunar eclipse, in which part of the Moon passed through the center of the Earth's shadow. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. 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. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 2.7 days after perigee (on August 23, 1942, at 9:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over eastern North America, South America, west Africa, and Antarctica, seen rising over western North America and the eastern 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.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1942

• A total lunar eclipse on March 3.
• A partial solar eclipse on March 16.
• A partial solar eclipse on August 12.
• A total lunar eclipse on August 26.
• A partial solar eclipse on September 10.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 7, 1938
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 14, 1946

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 16, 1935
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 7, 1949

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 21, 1933
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 1, 1951

Tritos

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 26, 1931
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 26, 1953

Lunar Saros 127

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 14, 1924
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 5, 1960

Inex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 15, 1913
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 1971

Triad

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 25, 1855
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 26, 2029

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.

Saros 127

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on July 9, 1275. It contains partial eclipses from November 4, 1473 through May 18, 1780; total eclipses from May 29, 1798 through November 9, 2068; and a second set of partial eclipses from November 20, 2086 through June 17, 2429. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on September 2, 2555.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 46 seconds on July 23, 1888. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.

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.

Tritos series

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

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 134.

See also

• List of lunar eclipses and List of 21st-century lunar eclipses

External links

• Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC