April 1950 lunar eclipse


A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Sunday, April 2, 1950, with an umbral magnitude of 1.0329. 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 only about 23 hours before perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
This lunar eclipse was the third of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on April 13, 1949; October 7, 1949; and September 26, 1950.
This was the first total lunar eclipse of Lunar Saros 131.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over much of Africa, Europe, and the western half of Asia, seen rising over South America and setting over east and northeast Asia and Australia.

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
ParameterValue
Penumbral Magnitude1.99513
Umbral Magnitude1.03288
Gamma−0.45987
Sun Right Ascension00h46m07.6s
Sun Declination+04°57'20.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'59.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension12h45m13.6s
Moon Declination-05°21'58.0"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'37.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax1°01'00.8"
ΔT29.2 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.
March 18
Ascending node 		April 2
Descending node
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 119		Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 131

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1950

Saros 131

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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 138.
March 27, 1941April 8, 1959