January 1972 lunar eclipse
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A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Sunday, January 30, 1972, with an umbral magnitude of 1.0497. 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 6.6 days before apogee (on February 6, 1972, at 0:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, western and central North America, and the central Pacific Ocean, seen rising over much of Asia and Australia and setting over eastern North America and South America.
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Penumbral Magnitude | 2.09866 |
| Umbral Magnitude | 1.04971 |
| Gamma | −0.42729 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 20h48m23.2s |
| Sun Declination | -17°50'13.7" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'14.2" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 08h47m46.4s |
| Moon Declination | +17°27'35.5" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'28.8" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°56'48.6" |
| ΔT | 42.3 s |
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.
| January 16 Ascending node (new moon) | January 30 Descending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 121 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 133 |
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 1972
- An annular solar eclipse on January 16.
- A total lunar eclipse on January 30.
- A total solar eclipse on July 10.
- A partial lunar eclipse on July 26.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 13, 1968
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 18, 1975
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 19, 1964
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1979
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 25, 1963
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 2, 1961
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 30, 1982
Lunar Saros 133
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 19, 1954
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 1990
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 20, 1943
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 2001
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 30, 1885
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 30, 2058
Lunar eclipses of 1969–1973
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 2, 1969 and September 25, 1969 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the lunar eclipses on June 15, 1973 (penumbral) and December 10, 1973 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Lunar eclipse series sets from 1969 to 1973 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | ||||||
| Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma |
| 108 | 1969 Aug 27 | Penumbral | −1.5407 | 113 | 1970 Feb 21 | Partial | 0.9620 |
| 118 | 1970 Aug 17 | Partial | −0.8053 | 123 | 1971 Feb 10 | Total | 0.2741 |
| 128 | 1971 Aug 06 | Total | −0.0794 | 133 | 1972 Jan 30 | Total | −0.4273 |
| 138 | 1972 Jul 26 | Partial | 0.7117 | 143 | 1973 Jan 18 | Penumbral | −1.0845 |
| 148 | 1973 Jul 15 | Penumbral | 1.5178 |
Saros 133
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 13, 1557. It contains partial eclipses from August 7, 1683 through December 17, 1899; total eclipses from December 28, 1917 through August 3, 2278; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 14, 2296 through March 11, 2639. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 29, 2819.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 41 seconds on May 30, 2170. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
| Greatest | First | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2170 May 30, lasting 101 minutes, 41 seconds. | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| 1557 May 13 | 1683 Aug 07 | 1917 Dec 28 | 2098 Apr 15 | |
| Last | ||||
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
| 2224 Jul 01 | 2278 Aug 03 | 2639 Mar 11 | 2819 Jun 29 |
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 15–36 occur between 1801 and 2200: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 16 | 17 | |||
| 1809 Oct 23 | 1827 Nov 03 | 1845 Nov 14 | |||
| 18 | 19 | 20 | |||
| 1863 Nov 25 | 1881 Dec 05 | 1899 Dec 17 | |||
| 21 | 22 | 23 | |||
| 1917 Dec 28 | 1936 Jan 08 | 1954 Jan 19 | |||
| 24 | 25 | 26 | |||
| 1972 Jan 30 | 1990 Feb 09 | 2008 Feb 21 | |||
| 27 | 28 | 29 | |||
| 2026 Mar 03 | 2044 Mar 13 | 2062 Mar 25 | |||
| 30 | 31 | 32 | |||
| 2080 Apr 04 | 2098 Apr 15 | 2116 Apr 27 | |||
| 33 | 34 | 35 | |||
| 2134 May 08 | 2152 May 18 | 2170 May 30 | |||
| 36 | |||||
| 2188 Jun 09 | |||||
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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1808 May 10 (Saros 118) | 1819 Apr 10 (Saros 119) | 1830 Mar 09 (Saros 120) | 1841 Feb 06 (Saros 121) | 1852 Jan 07 (Saros 122) | |||||
| 1862 Dec 06 (Saros 123) | 1873 Nov 04 (Saros 124) | 1884 Oct 04 (Saros 125) | 1895 Sep 04 (Saros 126) | 1906 Aug 04 (Saros 127) | |||||
| 1917 Jul 04 (Saros 128) | 1928 Jun 03 (Saros 129) | 1939 May 03 (Saros 130) | 1950 Apr 02 (Saros 131) | 1961 Mar 02 (Saros 132) | |||||
| 1972 Jan 30 (Saros 133) | 1982 Dec 30 (Saros 134) | 1993 Nov 29 (Saros 135) | 2004 Oct 28 (Saros 136) | 2015 Sep 28 (Saros 137) | |||||
| 2026 Aug 28 (Saros 138) | 2037 Jul 27 (Saros 139) | 2048 Jun 26 (Saros 140) | 2059 May 27 (Saros 141) | 2070 Apr 25 (Saros 142) | |||||
| 2081 Mar 25 (Saros 143) | 2092 Feb 23 (Saros 144) | 2103 Jan 23 (Saros 145) | 2113 Dec 22 (Saros 146) | 2124 Nov 21 (Saros 147) | |||||
| 2135 Oct 22 (Saros 148) | 2146 Sep 20 (Saros 149) | 2157 Aug 20 (Saros 150) | 2168 Jul 20 (Saros 151) | 2179 Jun 19 (Saros 152) | |||||
| 2190 May 19 (Saros 153) | |||||||||
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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1827 May 11 (Saros 128) | 1856 Apr 20 (Saros 129) | 1885 Mar 30 (Saros 130) | |||
| 1914 Mar 12 (Saros 131) | 1943 Feb 20 (Saros 132) | 1972 Jan 30 (Saros 133) | |||
| 2001 Jan 09 (Saros 134) | 2029 Dec 20 (Saros 135) | 2058 Nov 30 (Saros 136) | |||
| 2087 Nov 10 (Saros 137) | 2116 Oct 21 (Saros 138) | 2145 Sep 30 (Saros 139) | |||
| 2174 Sep 11 (Saros 140) | |||||
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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 140.
See also
Notes
External links
- Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC