Lunar Eclipses: 1951 - 1960

Fred Espenak

A concise summary of all lunar eclipses from 1951 through 1960 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: 1951 - 1960
Calendar Date TD of Greatest Eclipse Eclipse Type Saros Series Umbral Magnitude Eclipse Duration Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility
1951 Mar 23 10:37:33 Penumbral 141 -0.366 - e Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas
1951 Aug 17 03:14:39 Penumbral 108 -0.846 - Americas, Europe, Africa
1951 Sep 15 12:27:06 Penumbral 146 -0.193 - Asia, Australia, Pacific, w N America
1952 Feb 11 00:39:48 Partial 113 0.083 01h10m Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia
1952 Aug 05 19:47:55 Partial 118 0.532 02h27m e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1953 Jan 29 23:47:49 Total 123 1.331 03h46m
01h25m
Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia
1953 Jul 26 12:21:10 Total 128 1.863 03h36m
01h41m
Asia, Australia, Pacific, w Americas
1954 Jan 19 02:32:21 Total 133 1.032 03h23m
00h28m
Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1954 Jul 16 00:20:51 Partial 138 0.405 02h21m Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1955 Jan 08 12:33:20 Penumbral 143 -0.142 - Asia, Australia, Pacific, N America
1955 Jun 05 14:23:23 Penumbral 110 -0.450 - Asia, Australia, Pacific
1955 Nov 29 16:59:60 Partial 115 0.119 01h14m Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific
1956 May 24 15:31:52 Partial 120 0.965 03h24m Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific
1956 Nov 18 06:48:16 Total 125 1.317 03h29m
01h18m
ne Asia, Pacific, Americas, Europe, w Africa
1957 May 13 22:31:28 Total 130 1.298 03h32m
01h18m
e N America, S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1957 Nov 07 14:27:30 Total 135 1.031 03h27m
00h28m
e Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, Pacific, w N America
1958 Apr 04 04:00:15 Penumbral 102 -0.942 - Americas, w Africa, w Europe
1958 May 03 12:13:29 Partial 140 0.009 00h21m e Asia, Australia, Pacific, w Americas
1958 Oct 27 15:27:50 Penumbral 145 -0.312 - Asia, Australia, Pacific
1959 Mar 24 20:11:57 Partial 112 0.264 01h50m e S America, Africa, Asia, Australia
1959 Sep 17 01:03:37 Penumbral 117 -0.050 - S America, Europe, Africa
1960 Mar 13 08:28:21 Total 122 1.514 03h39m
01h34m
e Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas, w Europe, w Africa
1960 Sep 05 11:21:51 Total 127 1.424 03h31m
01h27m
e Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas

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