April 1968 lunar eclipse

Total Lunar Eclipse April 13, 1968
(No photo)
The moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals.
Series	131 (31 of 72)
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality
Partial
Penumbral
Contacts
P1	UTC
U1
U2
Greatest
U3
U4
P4

A total lunar eclipse took place on Saturday, April 13, 1968, the first of two total eclipses in 1968, the second being on October 6, 1968.

More details

Penumbral Magnitude: 2.07253 (207.253%)

Umbral Magnitude: 1.11164 (111.164%)

Gamma: -0.41732

Epsilon: 0°25’24.96”

Greatest Eclipse = 1968 Apr 13 at 04:47:22.2 UTC

Ecliptic Opposition = 1968 Apr 13 at 04:51:39.2 UTC

Equatorial Opposition = 1968 Apr 13 at 05:09:48.0 UTC

Sun’s Equatorial Right Ascension = 1.439h

Sun’s Equatorial Declination = +9.06°

Sun’s Diameter = 1913.8 arcseconds

Sun’s Equatorial Horizontal Parallax = 17.6 arcseconds

Moon’s Equatorial Right Ascension = 13.426h

Moon’s Equatorial Declination = -9.44°

Moon’s Diameter = 1991.6 arcseconds

Moon’s Equatorial Horizontal Parallax = 7309.4 arcseconds

Earth’s Shadow’s Equatorial Right Ascension = 13.439h

Earth’s Shadow’s Equatorial Declination = -9.06°

Earth’s Penumbral Shadow’s Diameter = 9313.92 arcseconds

Earth’s Umbral Shadow’s Diameter = 5486.4 arcseconds

Saros 131 (31 of 72), Descending Node

Eclipse Contacts

P1: 1968 Apr 13 (Sat) at 02:12:33.3 UTC

U1: 1968 Apr 13 (Sat) at 03:10:18.4 UTC

U2: 1968 Apr 13 (Sat) at 04:23:07.6 UTC

Greatest: 1968 Apr 13 (Sat) at 04:47:22.2 UTC

U3: 1968 Apr 13 (Sat) at 05:11:38.3 UTC

U4: 1968 Apr 13 (Sat) at 06:24:28.0 UTC

P4: 1968 Apr 13 (Sat) at 07:22:09.1 UTC

Eclipse Durations

The total duration of the eclipse was 5 hours, 9 minutes and 35.8 seconds.

The duration of the partial phases was 2 hours, 25 minutes and 38.9 seconds.

The duration of totality was 48 minutes and 30.7 seconds.

Visibility

It was visible from North and South America, as well as Africa and western Europe.

Related lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1966–1969
Descending node					Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
111	1966 May 4	Penumbral	1.05536		116	1966 Oct 29	Penumbral	−1.05999
121	1967 Apr 24	Total	0.29722		126	1967 Oct 18	Total	−0.36529
131	1968 Apr 13	Total	−0.41732		136	1968 Oct 6	Total	0.36054
141	1969 Apr 2	Penumbral	−1.17648		146	1969 Sep 25	Penumbral	1.06558
Last set	1965 Jun 14				Last set	1965 Dec 8
Next set	1970 Feb 21				Next set	1969 Aug 27

Saros series

It is the second total lunar eclipse of the series.

Lunar Saros series 131, has 72 lunar eclipses. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

This eclipse series began in AD 1427 with a partial eclipse at the southern edge of the Earth's shadow when the Moon was close to its descending node. Each successive Saros cycle, the Moon's orbital path is shifted northward with respect to the Earth's shadow, with the first total eclipse occurring in 1950. For the following 252 years, total eclipses occur, with the central eclipse being predicted to occur in 2078. The first partial eclipse after this is predicted to occur in the year 2220, and the final partial eclipse of the series will occur in 2707. The total lifetime of the lunar Saros series 131 is 1280 years. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Because of the ⅓ fraction of days in a Saros cycle, the visibility of each eclipse will differ for an observer at a given fixed locale. For the lunar Saros series 131, the first total eclipse of 1950 had its best visibility for viewers in Eastern Europe and the Middle East because mid-eclipse was at 20:44 UT. The following eclipse in the series occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day with mid-eclipse at 4:47 UT, and was best seen from North America and South America. The third total eclipse occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day than the second eclipse with mid-eclipse at 12:43 UT, and had its best visibility for viewers in the Western Pacific, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This cycle of visibility repeats from the initiation to termination of the series, with minor variations. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Lunar Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 72 lunar eclipse events including 57 umbral lunar eclipses (42 partial lunar eclipses and 15 total lunar eclipses). Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2094 Jun 28, lasting 102 minutes.	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1427 May 10	1553 July 25	1950 Apr 2	2022 May 16
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2148 Jul 31	2202 Sep 3	2563 Apr 9	2707 Jul 7

1901–2100

1914 Mar 12		1932 Mar 22		1950 Apr 2
1968 Apr 13		1986 Apr 24		2004 May 4
2022 May 16		2040 May 26		2058 Jun 6
2076 Jun 17		2094 Jun 28

Inex series

The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly. It is a part of Lunar Inex series 35.

Series events from 1500–2500

Descending node		Ascending node		Descending node		Ascending node
Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart
115	1505 Feb 18	116	1534 Jan 30	117	1563 Jan 9	118	1591 Dec 30
119	1620 Dec 9	120	1649 Nov 19	121	1678 Oct 29	122	1707 Oct 11
123	1736 Sep 20	124	1765 Aug 30	125	1794 Aug 11	126	1823 Jul 23
127	1852 Jul 1	128	1881 Jun 12	129	1910 May 24	130	1939 May 3
131	1968 Apr 13	132	1997 Mar 24	133	2026 Mar 3	134	2055 Feb 11
135	2084 Jan 22	136	2113 Jan 2	137	2141 Dec 13	138	2170 Nov 23
139	2199 Nov 2	140	2228 Oct 14	141	2257 Sep 24	142	2286 Sep 3
143	2315 Aug 16	144	2344 Jul 26	145	2373 Jul 5	146	2402 Jun 16
147	2431 May 27	148	2460 May 5	149	2489 Apr 16

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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 138.

April 8, 1959	April 18, 1977

See also

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

External links

• 1968 Apr 13 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC