April 1940 lunar eclipse


A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Monday, April 22, 1940, with an umbral magnitude of −0.0945. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon's near side passes into 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 2.7 days after perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over much of North America, South America, west Africa, and Antarctica, seen rising over northwestern North America and the central 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.
ParameterValue
Penumbral Magnitude0.86836
Umbral Magnitude−0.09446
Gamma1.07414
Sun Right Ascension01h58m53.2s
Sun Declination+12°08'03.3"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'54.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.7"
Moon Right Ascension14h00m00.5s
Moon Declination-11°05'02.6"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'31.3"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax1°00'38.2"
ΔT24.5 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months 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.
March 23
Ascending node
April 7
Descending node
April 22
Ascending node
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 102
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 128
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 140

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1940

Saros 140

Tritos series

Inex series

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days. This lunar eclipse is related to two partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 147.
April 18, 1931April 28, 1949