February 1970 lunar eclipse

A partial lunar eclipse took place on February 21, 1970. A tiny bite out of the Moon may have been visible at maximum, though just 5% of the Moon was shadowed in a partial eclipse which lasted for 52 minutes and 42 seconds. A shading across the moon from the Earth's penumbral shadow should have been visible at maximum eclipse.[1]

Partial Lunar Eclipse
February 21, 1970
(No photo)

The moon passes west to east (right to left) across the Earth's umbral shadow, shown in hourly intervals.
Series113 (61 of 71)
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Partial4:58:37.5
Penumbral52:42.4
Contacts
P106:00:45.3 UTC
U108:03:45.1
Greatest08:30:03.4
U408:56:27.5
P410:59:22.8

Visibility

Relation to other lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

Metonic cycle

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

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[2] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 120.

February 15, 1961 February 26, 1979

See also

Notes
  1. Saros series 113
  2. Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros


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