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 April 13, 1968, the first of two total eclipses in 1968, the second being on October 6.

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		 Saros Date
Viewing		 Type
Chart
111 1966 May 4
 Penumbral
 116 1966 Oct 29
 Penumbral
121 1967 Apr 24
 Total
 126 1967 Oct 18
 Total
131 1968 Apr 13
 Total
 136 1968 Oct 6
 Total
141 1969 Apr 2
 Penumbral
 146 1969 Sep 25
 Penumbral
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.

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.

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.

Greatest First

The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2094 Jun 28, lasting 102 minutes.[1]		 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.

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

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Listing of Eclipses of cycle 131

External links


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