A penumbral

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth ...

took place on Monday, October 18, 1948. It was a relatively rare

total penumbral lunar eclipse A total penumbral lunar eclipse is a lunar eclipse that occurs when the Moon becomes completely immersed in the penumbral cone of the Earth without touching the umbra. The path for the Moon to pass within the penumbra and outside the umbra is ve ...

where the moon passes entirely within the penumbral shadow, but not at all in the darker umbral shadow. In a rare total penumbral eclipse, the entire Moon was partially shaded by the Earth (though none of it was in complete shadow), and the shading across the Moon should have been quite visible at maximum eclipse. The penumbral phase lasted for 4 hours and 40 minutes in all, though for most of it, the eclipse was extremely difficult or impossible to see.

Visibility

Related lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, ''The half-saros'' This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of

Solar Saros 123 Saros cycle series 123 for solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an ...

Notes

External links