February 1951 lunar eclipse


A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, February 21, 1951, with an umbral magnitude of −1.0600. 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 6.5 days after apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
This eclipse was the first of four penumbral lunar eclipses in 1951, with the others occurring on March 23, August 17, and September 15.

Grazing penumbral eclipse

The magnitude of the eclipse was 0.007 or a miss depending on definitions of the penumbral shadow is defined. Bao-Lin Lui's Canon of lunar eclipses list it as the last eclipse of a saros cycle, with magnitude 0.007, while NASA lists February 10, 1933, as the final series event, with this one missing the shadow.
As seen from the lunar south pole the sun missing the sphere of the earth, excluding the atmosphere.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over Africa, Europe, and much of Asia.

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.
February 21
Descending node 		March 7
Ascending node 		March 23
Descending node
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 103		Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 129		Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 141

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1951

Metonic series

Saros 103

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 103, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 82 or 83 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on September 3, 472 AD. It contains partial eclipses from April 19, 851 AD through June 23, 959 AD; total eclipses from July 3, 977 AD through May 3, 1482; and a second set of partial eclipses from May 13, 1500 through July 27, 1608. The series ends at member 82 as a penumbral eclipse on February 10, 1933, though some sources count a possible penumbral eclipse on February 21, 1951 as the last eclipse of the series.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 36 at 98 minutes, 57 seconds on September 17, 1103. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending 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

Inex series