Jump to content

October 1968 lunar eclipse

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
October 1968 lunar eclipse
Total eclipse
The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
DateOctober 6, 1968
Gamma0.3605
Magnitude1.1691
Saros cycle136 (17 of 72)
Totality62 minutes, 58 seconds
Partiality213 minutes, 56 seconds
Penumbral352 minutes, 2 seconds
Contacts (UTC)
P18:45:58
U19:54:56
U211:10:26
Greatest11:41:56
U312:13:24
U413:28:53
P414:38:00

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Sunday, October 6, 1968,[1] with an umbral magnitude of 1.1691. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. 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. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring about 5.3 days before apogee (on October 11, 1968, at 18:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]

This lunar eclipse was the last of a tetrad, with four total lunar eclipses in series, the others being on April 24, 1967; October 18, 1967; and April 13, 1968.

Visibility

[edit]

The eclipse was completely visible over northeast Asia, eastern Australia, northwestern North America and much of the Pacific Ocean, seen rising over most of Asia and western Australia and setting over North and South America.[3]

Eclipse details

[edit]

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]

October 6, 1968 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Penumbral Magnitude 2.22423
Umbral Magnitude 1.16913
Gamma 0.36054
Sun Right Ascension 12h48m51.9s
Sun Declination -05°14'36.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'00.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 00h48m13.3s
Moon Declination +05°32'13.0"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'10.1"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°55'39.9"
ΔT 39.0 s

Eclipse season

[edit]
See also: Eclipse cycle

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.

Eclipse season of September–October 1968
September 22
Descending node (new moon)
 October 6
Ascending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 124		 Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 136
[edit]

Eclipses in 1968

[edit]

Metonic

[edit]

Tzolkinex

[edit]

Half-Saros

[edit]

Tritos

[edit]

Lunar Saros 136

[edit]

Inex

[edit]

Triad

[edit]

Lunar eclipses of 1966–1969

[edit]

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]

The penumbral lunar eclipse on August 27, 1969 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1966 to 1969
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Date
Viewing 		Type
Chart 		Gamma Saros Date
Viewing 		Type
Chart 		Gamma
111 1966 May 04
 Penumbral
 1.0554 116 1966 Oct 29
 Penumbral
 −1.0600
121 1967 Apr 24
 Total
 0.2972 126 1967 Oct 18
 Total
 −0.3653
131 1968 Apr 13
 Total
 −0.4173 136 1968 Oct 06
 Total
 0.3605
141 1969 Apr 02
 Penumbral
 −1.1765 146 1969 Sep 25
 Penumbral
 1.0656

Saros 136

[edit]

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on April 13, 1680. It contains partial eclipses from July 11, 1824 through September 14, 1932; total eclipses from September 26, 1950 through July 7, 2419; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 18, 2437 through October 3, 2563. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on June 1, 2960.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 23 seconds on April 21, 2293. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[6]

Greatest First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2293 Apr 21, lasting 101 minutes, 23 seconds.[7] Penumbral Partial Total Central
1680 Apr 13
 1824 Jul 11
 1950 Sep 26
 2022 Nov 08
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
2365 Jun 04
 2419 Jul 07
 2563 Oct 03
 2960 Jun 01

Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

Tritos series

[edit]

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2187
1805 Jan 15
(Saros 121) 		1815 Dec 16
(Saros 122) 		1826 Nov 14
(Saros 123) 		1837 Oct 13
(Saros 124) 		1848 Sep 13
(Saros 125)
1859 Aug 13
(Saros 126) 		1870 Jul 12
(Saros 127) 		1881 Jun 12
(Saros 128) 		1892 May 11
(Saros 129) 		1903 Apr 12
(Saros 130)
1914 Mar 12
(Saros 131) 		1925 Feb 08
(Saros 132) 		1936 Jan 08
(Saros 133) 		1946 Dec 08
(Saros 134) 		1957 Nov 07
(Saros 135)
1968 Oct 06
(Saros 136) 		1979 Sep 06
(Saros 137) 		1990 Aug 06
(Saros 138) 		2001 Jul 05
(Saros 139) 		2012 Jun 04
(Saros 140)
2023 May 05
(Saros 141) 		2034 Apr 03
(Saros 142) 		2045 Mar 03
(Saros 143) 		2056 Feb 01
(Saros 144) 		2066 Dec 31
(Saros 145)
2077 Nov 29
(Saros 146) 		2088 Oct 30
(Saros 147) 		2099 Sep 29
(Saros 148) 		2110 Aug 29
(Saros 149) 		2121 Jul 30
(Saros 150)
2132 Jun 28
(Saros 151) 		2143 May 28
(Saros 152) 		2154 Apr 28
(Saros 153)
2187 Jan 24
(Saros 156)

Half-Saros cycle

[edit]

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 143.

October 2, 1959 October 12, 1977

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ "October 5–6, 1968 Total Lunar Eclipse (Blood Moon)". timeanddate. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  3. ^ "Total Lunar Eclipse of 1968 Oct 06" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Total Lunar Eclipse of 1968 Oct 06". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  5. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  6. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Lunar Eclipses of Saros 136". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
  7. ^ Listing of Eclipses of series 136
  8. ^ Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, The half-saros
[edit]


Stub icon

This lunar eclipse-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "http://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=October_1968_lunar_eclipse&oldid=1271178873"