Lunar Eclipses: 1931 - 1940

Fred Espenak

A concise summary of all lunar eclipses from 1931 through 1940 is presented in the table below. The first column gives the Calendar Date of the instant of greatest eclipse[1]. The second column TD of Greatest Eclipse is the Terrestrial Dynamical Time of greatest eclipse. The third column lists the Eclipse Type which is either Total, Partial, or Penumbral.

Eclipses recur over the Saros cycle, a period of approximately 18 years 11 days. Each eclipse belongs to the Saros Series shown in the 4th column. The Umbral Magnitude[2] (column 5) gives the fraction of the Moon's diameter immersed in Earth's umbral shadow at the instant of greatest eclipse. The Eclipse Duration[3] gives the length of the partial eclipse. If the eclipse is total then two durations are listed. The first is the interval between the beginning and end of the partial phases. The second value (in bold) is the duration the total phase. Finally, the Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility[4] provides a brief description of the regions where each eclipse will be seen.

Two fields in the summary table provide links to graphics and additional information for each eclipse. A figure consisting of a diagram and map for each eclipse may be seen by clicking on the Calendar Date. The top diagram shows the Moon's trajectory with respect to Earth's penumbral and umbral shadows. The equidistant cylindrical projection map below illustrates the geographpic region of visibility for each phase of the eclipse. These figures are described in greater detail in the Key to Lunar Eclipse Maps. Each figure is stored as a PDF file of about 110 kilobytes.

All eclipses belonging to a particular Saros Series are listed in a table linked through the Saros number.

The Key to Lunar Eclipse Decade Table contains a more detailed description of each item in the table.

For more data on lunar eclipses during this period, see Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: 1901 to 2000 .

Lunar Eclipses: 1931 - 1940
Calendar Date TD of Greatest Eclipse Eclipse Type Saros Series Umbral Magnitude Eclipse Duration Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility
1931 Apr 02 20:07:55 Total 121 1.502 03h28m
01h30m
e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1931 Sep 26 19:48:29 Total 126 1.321 03h47m
01h24m
e Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1932 Mar 22 12:32:39 Partial 131 0.967 03h05m Asia, Australia, N America, w S America
1932 Sep 14 21:00:60 Partial 136 0.975 03h24m e Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1933 Feb 10 13:17:33 Penumbral 103 -1.027 - Asia, Australia, w N America
1933 Mar 12 02:33:03 Penumbral 141 -0.415 - Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1933 Aug 05 19:46:05 Penumbral 108 -0.734 - e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1933 Sep 04 04:52:20 Penumbral 146 -0.301 - Americas, Europe, Africa
1934 Jan 30 16:42:42 Partial 113 0.112 01h21m Europe, Africa, Asia, w N America
1934 Jul 26 12:15:38 Partial 118 0.661 02h41m e Asia, Australia, w Americas
1935 Jan 19 15:47:35 Total 123 1.350 03h47m
01h26m
Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, w N America
1935 Jul 16 05:00:05 Total 128 1.754 03h35m
01h40m
e Australia, Americas, w Europe, Africa
1936 Jan 08 18:09:58 Total 133 1.017 03h23m
00h21m
n N America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1936 Jul 04 17:25:23 Partial 138 0.267 01h56m se Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia,
1936 Dec 28 03:49:09 Penumbral 143 -0.155 - Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1937 May 25 07:51:34 Penumbral 110 -0.303 - Australia, Americas, w Africa
1937 Nov 18 08:19:26 Partial 115 0.144 01h21m e Asia, Australia, Americas, w Europe, w Africa
1938 May 14 08:44:00 Total 120 1.097 03h33m
00h49m
e Asia, Australia, Americas, w Africa
1938 Nov 07 22:26:42 Total 125 1.352 03h30m
01h21m
Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, w Australia
1939 May 03 15:11:43 Total 130 1.176 03h27m
01h02m
e Europe, e Africa, Asia, Australia, w N America
1939 Oct 28 06:36:43 Partial 135 0.988 03h23m e Asia, e Australia, Americas, Europe, w Africa
1940 Mar 23 19:48:19 Penumbral 102 -0.880 - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1940 Apr 22 04:26:25 Penumbral 140 -0.094 - Americas, Europe, Africa
1940 Oct 16 08:01:17 Penumbral 145 -0.375 - e Asia, Australia, Americas, w Europe, w Africa

Geographic abbreviations (used above): n = north, s = south, e = east, w = west, c = central


[1] Greatest Eclipse is the instant when the distance between the axis of Earth's umbral shadow and the center of the Moon's disk reaches a minimum.

[2] Umbral magnitude is the fraction of the Moon's diameter obscured by Earth's umbral shadow at the instant of greatest eclipse. For total eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than or equal to 1. For partial eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always greater than 0 and less than 1. For penumbral eclipses, the umbral magnitude is always negative (i.e., less than 0).

[3] Eclipse Duration is the duration of the partial phase of a partial eclipse. For total eclipses two values are given. The first is the period between the beginning and end of the partial phases, while the second value (in bold is the duration of the total phase.

[4] Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility is the portion of Earth's surface where some portion of the eclipse can be seen.


Decade Tables of Lunar Eclipses

Every link in the following table displays a page containing 10 years of lunar eclipses. Each eclipse has links to diagrams, maps and saros tables.

Ten Year Tables of Lunar Eclipses
Decades
1901-1910 1911-1920 1921-1930 1931-1940 1941-1950
1951-1960 1961-1970 1971-1980 1981-1990 1991-2000
2001-2010 2011-2020 2021-2030 2031-2040 2041-2050
2051-2060 2061-2070 2071-2080 2081-2090 2091-2100

Lunar Eclipse Catalogs
Lunar Eclipse Resources
Lunar Eclipse Publications Online

Special thanks to National Space Club summer interns Christopher Barrow for his valuable assistance in preparing this web page (July 2004) and Sumit Dutta for meticulously updating the Eclipse Web Site to NASA/W3C standards (July 2005).

All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Some of the information presented on this web site is based on data published in Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000.

Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC"

For more information, see: NASA Copyright Information

2013 Dec 09