April 1948 lunar eclipse


A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Friday, April 23, 1948, with an umbral magnitude of 0.0230. 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 3.5 days after perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over east and northeast Asia, Australia, and Antarctica, seen rising over east Africa and the western half of Asia and setting over western North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular lunar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
ParameterValue
Penumbral Magnitude1.01720
Umbral Magnitude0.02300
Gamma1.00165
Sun Right Ascension02h04m17.6s
Sun Declination+12°37'06.8"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'54.1"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.7"
Moon Right Ascension14h06m01.0s
Moon Declination-11°44'01.4"
Moon Semi-Diameter15'59.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°58'42.0"
ΔT28.4 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.
April 23
Descending node
May 9
Ascending node
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 111
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 137

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1948

Saros 111

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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 118.
April 19, 1939April 30, 1957