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 (on February 15, 1951, at 9:35 UTC), 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.Lunar Saros 103
As seen from the lunar south pole, the sun misses 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 (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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
+ Eclipse season of February–March 1951 February 21Descending node (full moon) March 7Ascending node (new moon) March 23Descending node (full moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 103 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 129 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 141
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1951 A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 21. An annular solar eclipse on March 7. A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23. A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 17. An annular solar eclipse on September 1. A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 15.
Tzolkinex Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 4, 1958
Tritos Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 23, 1940
Lunar Saros 103 Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 10, 1933
Inex Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1922
Lunar eclipses of 1951–1955
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 (depending on the source). 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.
GreatestFirstThe greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1103 Sep 17, lasting 98 minutes, 57 seconds.Listing of Eclipses of series 103PenumbralPartialTotalCentral472 Sep 03851 Apr 19977 Jul 031031 Aug 05LastCentralTotalPartialPenumbral1410 Mar 211482 May 31608 Jul 271933 Feb 10
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.
Series members 75–83 occur between 1801 and 1951: 75 76 771806 Nov 261824 Dec 061842 Dec 17 78 79 801860 Dec 281879 Jan 081897 Jan 18 81 82 831915 Jan 311933 Feb 101951 Feb 21
Tritos series
Series members between 1940 and 2200 1940 Mar 23(Saros 102) 1951 Feb 21(Saros 103) 2027 Jul 18(Saros 110) 2038 Jun 17(Saros 111) 2049 May 17(Saros 112) 2060 Apr 15(Saros 113) 2071 Mar 16(Saros 114) 2082 Feb 13(Saros 115) 2093 Jan 12(Saros 116) 2103 Dec 13(Saros 117) 2114 Nov 12(Saros 118) 2125 Oct 12(Saros 119) 2136 Sep 10(Saros 120) 2147 Aug 11(Saros 121) 2158 Jul 11(Saros 122) 2169 Jun 09(Saros 123) 2180 May 09(Saros 124) 2191 Apr 09(Saros 125)
Inex series
Series members between 1835 and 1951 1835 May 12(Saros 99) 1922 Mar 13(Saros 102) 1951 Feb 21(Saros 103)
See also List of lunar eclipses List of 20th-century lunar eclipses August 2016 lunar eclipse October 2042 lunar eclipse
Notes
References Bao-Lin Lui, Alan D. Fiala, Canon of lunar eclipses 1500BC-3000AD, 1992, p. 157, no. 8397, magnitude 0.007.
External links NASA chart