A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Monday, February 11, 1952,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.0832. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in 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 2.7 days after apogee (on February 8, 1952, at 8:25 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]
Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over northeastern North America, eastern South America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, seen rising over much of North America and western South America and setting over much of Asia.[3]
 
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Eclipse details
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 | 1.17816 |
| Umbral Magnitude | 0.08323 |
| Gamma | 0.94161 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 21h34m29.0s |
| Sun Declination | -14°25'36.6" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'12.4" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 09h35m56.5s |
| Moon Declination | +15°12'10.8" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'48.1" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°54'19.3" |
| ΔT | 29.9 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.
| February 11 Descending node (full moon) |
February 25 Ascending node (new moon) |
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| Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 113 |
Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 139 |
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 1952
- A partial lunar eclipse on February 11.
- A total solar eclipse on February 25.
- A partial lunar eclipse on August 5.
- An annular solar eclipse on August 20.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 23, 1948
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 29, 1955
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 29, 1944
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1959
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 4, 1943
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 15, 1961
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1941
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 1963
Lunar Saros 113
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 30, 1934
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 21, 1970
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 1923
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 20, 1981
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 11, 1865
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 11, 2038
Lunar eclipses of 1951–1955
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.
| Lunar eclipse series sets from 1951 to 1955 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||||
| Saros | Date Viewing |
Type Chart |
Gamma | Saros | Date Viewing |
Type Chart |
Gamma | |
| 103 | 1951 Feb 21
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Penumbral
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− | 108 | 1951 Aug 17
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Penumbral
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−1.4828 | |
| 113 | 1952 Feb 11
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Partial
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0.9416 | 118 | 1952 Aug 05
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Partial
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−0.7384 | |
| 123 | 1953 Jan 29
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Total
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0.2606 | 128 | 1953 Jul 26
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Total
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−0.0071 | |
| 133 | 1954 Jan 19
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Total
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−0.4357 | 138 | 1954 Jul 16
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Partial
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0.7877 | |
| 143 | 1955 Jan 08
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Penumbral
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−1.0907 | |||||
Saros 113
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 113, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on April 29, 888 AD. It contains partial eclipses from July 14, 1014 through March 10, 1411; total eclipses from March 20, 1429 through August 7, 1645; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 18, 1663 through February 21, 1970. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 10, 2150.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 38 at 103 minutes, 6 seconds on June 5, 1555. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[6]
| Greatest | First | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1555 Jun 05, lasting 103 minutes, 6 seconds.[7] | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| 888 Apr 29 |
1014 Jul 14 |
1429 Mar 20 |
1483 Apr 22 | |
| Last | ||||
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
| 1609 Jul 16 |
1645 Aug 07 |
1970 Feb 21
|
2150 Jun 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 52–71 occur between 1801 and 2150: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | 53 | 54 | |||
| 1807 Nov 15 | 1825 Nov 25 | 1843 Dec 07 | |||
| 55 | 56 | 57 | |||
| 1861 Dec 17 | 1879 Dec 28 | 1898 Jan 08 | |||
| 58 | 59 | 60 | |||
| 1916 Jan 20 | 1934 Jan 30 | 1952 Feb 11 | |||
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| 61 | 62 | 63 | |||
| 1970 Feb 21 | 1988 Mar 03 | 2006 Mar 14 | |||
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| 64 | 65 | 66 | |||
| 2024 Mar 25 | 2042 Apr 05 | 2060 Apr 15 | |||
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| 67 | 68 | 69 | |||
| 2078 Apr 27 | 2096 May 07 | 2114 May 19 | |||
| 70 | 71 | ||||
| 2132 May 30 | 2150 Jun 10 | ||||
Tritos series
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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1810 Mar 21 (Saros 100) |
1821 Feb 17 (Saros 101) |
1832 Jan 17 (Saros 102) |
1842 Dec 17 (Saros 103) |
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| 1864 Oct 15 (Saros 105) |
1875 Sep 15 (Saros 106) |
1886 Aug 14 (Saros 107) |
1897 Jul 14 (Saros 108) |
1908 Jun 14 (Saros 109) | |||||
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| 1919 May 15 (Saros 110) |
1930 Apr 13 (Saros 111) |
1941 Mar 13 (Saros 112) |
1952 Feb 11 (Saros 113) |
1963 Jan 09 (Saros 114) | |||||
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| 1973 Dec 10 (Saros 115) |
1984 Nov 08 (Saros 116) |
1995 Oct 08 (Saros 117) |
2006 Sep 07 (Saros 118) |
2017 Aug 07 (Saros 119) | |||||
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| 2028 Jul 06 (Saros 120) |
2039 Jun 06 (Saros 121) |
2050 May 06 (Saros 122) |
2061 Apr 04 (Saros 123) |
2072 Mar 04 (Saros 124) | |||||
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| 2083 Feb 02 (Saros 125) |
2094 Jan 01 (Saros 126) |
2104 Dec 02 (Saros 127) |
2115 Nov 02 (Saros 128) |
2126 Oct 01 (Saros 129) | |||||
| 2137 Aug 30 (Saros 130) |
2148 Jul 31 (Saros 131) |
2159 Jun 30 (Saros 132) |
2170 May 30 (Saros 133) |
2181 Apr 29 (Saros 134) | |||||
| 2192 Mar 28 (Saros 135) | |||||||||
Half-Saros cycle
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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 120.
| February 4, 1943 | February 15, 1961 |
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See also
Notes
- ^ "February 10–11, 1952 Partial Lunar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1952 Feb 11" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ "Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1952 Feb 11". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ "NASA - Catalog of Lunar Eclipses of Saros 113". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
- ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 113
- ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
External links
- 1952 Feb 11 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
