October 1940 lunar eclipse


A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, October 16, 1940, with an umbral magnitude of −0.3749. 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 21 hours after apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over North America and western South America, seen rising over East Asia and Australia and setting over eastern South America, West Africa, and Western Europe.

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
ParameterValue
Penumbral Magnitude0.71567
Umbral Magnitude−0.37489
Gamma−1.19248
Sun Right Ascension13h24m23.2s
Sun Declination-08°52'19.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'03.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension01h25m35.5s
Moon Declination+07°50'26.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter14'43.0"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°54'00.7"
ΔT24.7 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.
October 1
Ascending node
October 16
Descending node
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 133
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 145

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1940

Saros 145

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 152.
October 11, 1931October 21, 1949