July 1953 lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Sunday, July 26, 1953, with an umbral magnitude of 1.8629. 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 2.1 days before perigee (on July 28, 1953, at 14:45 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

With an umbral lunar eclipse magnitude of 1.8629, this was the largest lunar eclipse of the 20th century, larger than any since 1765 and until 2264. Gamma had a value of only −0.0071. Due to the Moon's relatively large size, totality lasted 100 minutes and 42 seconds unlike July 16, 2000, which lasted 106 minutes and 25 seconds, the longest since August 13, 1859 (which was only 3 seconds longer).

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over Australia, Antarctica, and much of the Pacific Ocean, seen rising over much of Asia and setting over North 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.

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.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1953

• A total lunar eclipse on January 29.
• A partial solar eclipse on February 14.
• A partial solar eclipse on July 11.
• A total lunar eclipse on July 26.
• A partial solar eclipse on August 9.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 7, 1949
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 13, 1957

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 14, 1946
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 5, 1960

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1944
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 31, 1962

Tritos

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 26, 1942
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 25, 1964

Lunar Saros 128

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 16, 1935
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 1971

Inex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 14, 1924
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 6, 1982

Triad

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 24, 1866
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 26, 2040

Lunar eclipses of 1951–1955

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 March 23, 1951 and September 15, 1951 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the lunar eclipses on June 5, 1955 (penumbral) and November 29, 1955 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 128

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 128, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 18, 1304. It contains partial eclipses from September 2, 1430 through May 11, 1827; total eclipses from May 21, 1845 through October 21, 2097; and a second set of partial eclipses from November 2, 2115 through May 17, 2440. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on August 2, 2566.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 37 at 100 minutes, 43 seconds on July 26, 1953. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending 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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 135.

See also

• List of lunar eclipses
• List of 20th-century lunar eclipses

Notes

External links

• Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC [dead link]

• Bao-Lin Liu, Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1500 B.C.-A.D. 3000, 1992