April 1950 lunar eclipse

Template:Short description Template:Infobox 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 (on April 3, 1950, at 20:00 UTC), 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.

File:Lunar eclipse from moon-1950Apr02.png File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1950Apr02.png

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

April 2, 1950 Lunar Eclipse Parameters

Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.99513
Umbral Magnitude	1.03288
Gamma	−0.45987
Sun Right Ascension	00h46m07.6s
Sun Declination	+04°57'20.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter	15'59.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.8"
Moon Right Ascension	12h45m13.6s
Moon Declination	-05°21'58.0"
Moon Semi-Diameter	16'37.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	1°01'00.8"
ΔT	29.2 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) 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.

Eclipse season of March–April 1950

March 18 Ascending node (new moon)	April 2 Descending node (full moon)
File:SE1950Mar18A.png	File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1950Apr02.png
Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 119	Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 131

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1950

• An annular solar eclipse on March 18.
• A total lunar eclipse on April 2.
• A total solar eclipse on September 12.
• A total lunar eclipse on September 26.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 14, 1946
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 19, 1954

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 20, 1943
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 13, 1957

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 27, 1941
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 1959

Tritos

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 3, 1939
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 2, 1961

Lunar Saros 131

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 22, 1932
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 13, 1968

Inex

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1921
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1979

Triad

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 1, 1863
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 31, 2037

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 138.

March 27, 1941	April 8, 1959
File:SE1941Mar27A.png	File:SE1959Apr08A.png

See also

• List of lunar eclipses
• List of 20th-century lunar eclipses

External links

• Template:LEplot1901 link

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