January 1955 lunar eclipse
| Penumbral eclipse | |||||||||
| File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1955Jan08.png The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left | |||||||||
| Date | January 8, 1955 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | −1.0907 | ||||||||
| Magnitude | −0.1421 | ||||||||
| Saros cycle | 143 (15 of 73) | ||||||||
| Penumbral | 236 minutes, 2 seconds | ||||||||
| |||||||||
A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Saturday, January 8, 1955,[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.1421. 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 2.2 days after perigee (on January 6, 1955, at 8:55 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
Visibility
[edit | edit source]The eclipse was completely visible over east and north Asia, Australia, and northwestern North America, seen rising over much of the western half of Asia and northern Europe and setting over eastern North America and northwestern South America.[3]
| File:Lunar eclipse from moon-1955Jan08.png File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1955Jan08.png |
Eclipse details
[edit | edit source]Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Penumbral Magnitude | 0.85553 |
| Umbral Magnitude | −0.14209 |
| Gamma | −1.09070 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 19h15m41.7s |
| Sun Declination | -22°18'18.6" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'15.9" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 07h14m38.8s |
| Moon Declination | +21°14'42.2" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'18.2" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°59'50.2" |
| ΔT | 31.1 s |
Eclipse season
[edit | edit source]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.
| December 25 Ascending node (new moon) |
January 8 Descending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
| File:SE1954Dec25A.png | File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1955Jan08.png |
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 131 |
Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 143 |
Related eclipses
[edit | edit source]Eclipses in 1955
[edit | edit source]- A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 8.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 5.
- A total solar eclipse on June 20.
- A partial lunar eclipse on November 29.
- An annular solar eclipse on December 14.
Metonic
[edit | edit source]- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 23, 1951
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 27, 1958
Tzolkinex
[edit | edit source]- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 28, 1947
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 19, 1962
Half-Saros
[edit | edit source]- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1946
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1964
Tritos
[edit | edit source]- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 1944
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1965
Lunar Saros 143
[edit | edit source]- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 28, 1936
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 18, 1973
Inex
[edit | edit source]- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 28, 1926
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 20, 1983
Triad
[edit | edit source]- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 8, 1868
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 8, 2041
Lunar eclipses of 1951–1955
[edit | edit source]This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]
The penumbral lunar eclipses on March 23, 1951 and September 15, 1951 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the lunar eclipses on June 5, 1955 (penumbral) and November 29, 1955 (partial) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 143
[edit | edit source]This eclipse is a part of Saros series 143, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on August 18, 1720. It contains partial eclipses from March 14, 2063 through June 21, 2225; total eclipses from July 2, 2243 through April 13, 2712; and a second set of partial eclipses from April 25, 2730 through July 9, 2856. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on October 5, 3000.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 36 at 99 minutes, 9 seconds on September 6, 2351. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[6]
| Greatest | First | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2351 Sep 06, lasting 99 minutes, 9 seconds.[7] | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| 1720 Aug 18 |
2063 Mar 14 |
2243 Jul 02 |
2297 Aug 03 | |
| Last | ||||
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
| 2495 Dec 02 |
2712 Apr 13 |
2856 Jul 09 |
3000 Oct 05 | |
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
[edit | edit source]This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series
[edit | edit source]This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1810 Apr 19 (Saros 138) |
1839 Mar 30 (Saros 139) |
1868 Mar 08 (Saros 140) | |||
| 1897 Feb 17 (Saros 141) |
1926 Jan 28 (Saros 142) |
1955 Jan 08 (Saros 143) | |||
| File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1926Jan28.png | File:Lunar eclipse from moon-1926Jan28.png | File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1955Jan08.png | File:Lunar eclipse from moon-1955Jan08.png | ||
| 1983 Dec 20 (Saros 144) |
2012 Nov 28 (Saros 145) |
2041 Nov 08 (Saros 146) | |||
| File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1983Dec20.png | File:Lunar eclipse from moon-1983Dec20.png | File:Lunar eclipse chart close-2012Nov28.png | File:Lunar eclipse from moon-2012Nov28.png | File:Lunar eclipse chart close-2041Nov08.png | File:Lunar eclipse from moon-2041Nov08.png |
| 2070 Oct 19 (Saros 147) |
2099 Sep 29 (Saros 148) |
2128 Sep 09 (Saros 149) | |||
| File:Lunar eclipse chart close-2070Oct19.png | File:Lunar eclipse from moon-2070Oct19.png | File:Lunar eclipse chart close-2099Sep29.png | File:Lunar eclipse from moon-2099Sep29.png | ||
| 2157 Aug 20 (Saros 150) |
2186 Jul 31 (Saros 151) | ||||
Half-Saros cycle
[edit | edit source]A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two partial solar eclipses of Solar Saros 150.
| January 3, 1946 | January 14, 1964 |
|---|---|
| File:SE1946Jan03P.png | File:SE1964Jan14P.png |
See also
[edit | edit source]Notes
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 143
- ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
External links
[edit | edit source]- 1955 Jan 08 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
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