February 1951 lunar eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on Wednesday, February 21, 1951. This was 6.4 days after the Moon reached apogee.

February 1951 lunar eclipse

Penumbral eclipse
The Moon passed west to east (right to left) through the northern edge of the Earth's penumbral shadow. It was too small to be visually perceptible.
Magnitude	0.007 (penumbral magnitude)
Saros cycle	103 (83)
Contacts (UTC) P1 - Greatest 21:29 UTC P4 -

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.

As seen from the lunar south pole the sun missing the sphere of the earth, excluding the atmosphere.

Related lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1951–1955

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date viewing	Type chart		Saros	Date viewing	Type chart
103	1951 Feb 21	Penumbral		108	1951 Aug 17	Penumbral
113	1952 Feb 11	Partial		118	1952 Aug 5	Partial
123	1953 Jan 29	Total		128	1953 Jul 26	Total
133	1954 Jan 19	Total		138	1954 Jul 16	Partial
143	1955 Jan 8	Penumbral
Last set	1951 Mar 23			Last set	1951 Sep 15
Next set	1955 Nov 29			Next set	1955 Jun 5

Metonic cycle (19 years)

This is the third of five Metonic lunar eclipses.

The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Metonic lunar eclipse sets 1951–2027

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type		Saros	Date	Type
103	1951 Feb 21.88	Penumbral		108	1951 Aug 17.13	Penumbral
113	1970 Feb 21.35	Partial		118	1970 Aug 17.14	Partial
123	1989 Feb 20.64	Total		128	1989 Aug 17.13	Total
133	2008 Feb 21.14	Total		138	2008 Aug 16.88	Partial
143	2027 Feb 20.96	Penumbral		148	2027 Aug 17.30	Penumbral

See also

• List of lunar eclipses
• List of 20th-century lunar eclipses
• August 2016 lunar eclipse
• October 2042 lunar eclipse

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
• 1951 Feb 21 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC