March 1940 lunar eclipse
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, March 23, 1940, with an umbral magnitude of −0.8802. 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 only about 8.5 hours after perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
It occurred on Easter Sunday.
Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over Africa, Europe, and Asia, seen rising over Iceland and parts of the Atlantic Ocean and setting over northeast Asia and Oceania.Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.| Parameter | Value |
| Penumbral Magnitude | 0.07888 |
| Umbral Magnitude | −0.88017 |
| Gamma | −1.50338 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 00h11m07.9s |
| Sun Declination | +01°12'22.5" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'02.4" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 12h09m13.6s |
| Moon Declination | -02°40'07.6" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'43.5" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'23.1" |
| ΔT | 24.5 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, 1940|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
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23.
- An annular solar eclipse on April 7.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 22.
- Solar eclipse of [October 1, 1940|A total solar eclipse on October 1].
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on October 16.
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 10, 1933
Tritos
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 21, 1951
Lunar Saros 102
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1922
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1958
Triad
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 24, 2027
Saros 102
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 102, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 84 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on October 5, 461 AD. It contains partial eclipses from May 20, 840 AD through July 13, 930 AD; total eclipses from July 23, 948 AD through April 20, 1399; and a second set of partial eclipses from May 1, 1417 through July 16, 1543. The series ends at member 84 as a penumbral eclipse on April 4, 1958.The longest duration of totality was produced by member 36 at 104 minutes, 43 seconds on October 7, 1074. 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.