February 1951 lunar eclipse

February 1951 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	February 21, 1951
Gamma	-
Magnitude	0.007 (penumbral magnitude)
Saros cycle	103 (84 of 84)
Penumbral	-
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	-
Greatest	21:12[citation needed]
P4	-
	← September 1950 March 1951 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit on Wednesday, February 21, 1951,^[1] with a penumbral magnitude of 0.007. 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

As seen from the lunar south pole the sun missing 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 21 Descending node (full moon)	March 7 Ascending node (new moon)	March 23 Descending node (full moon)

Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 103	Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 129	Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 141

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1951–1955

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 series

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