Lunar Eclipses: 1971 - 1980

Fred Espenak

A concise summary of all lunar eclipses from 1971 through 1980 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: 1971 - 1980
Calendar Date TD of Greatest Eclipse Eclipse Type Saros Series Umbral Magnitude Eclipse Duration Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility
1971 Feb 10 07:45:21 Total 123 1.308 03h45m
01h22m
e Asia, Australia, Americas, w Africa, w Europe
1971 Aug 06 19:43:52 Total 128 1.728 03h36m
01h39m
e S. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1972 Jan 30 10:54:05 Total 133 1.050 03h23m
00h35m
Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas
1972 Jul 26 07:16:22 Partial 138 0.543 02h40m Australia, Pacific, Americas, w Africa
1973 Jan 18 21:17:58 Penumbral 143 -0.129 - e Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1973 Jun 15 20:50:41 Penumbral 110 -0.602 - e S. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1973 Jul 15 11:39:19 Penumbral 148 -0.958 - e Asia, Australia, Pacific, w Americas
1973 Dec 10 01:45:06 Partial 115 0.101 01h08m Americas, Europe, Africa, c Asia
1974 Jun 04 22:16:44 Partial 120 0.827 03h14m S. America, Europe, Africa, c Asia, Australia
1974 Nov 29 15:14:07 Total 125 1.290 03h29m
01h16m
Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific, w N America
1975 May 25 05:48:47 Total 130 1.425 03h35m
01h28m
e Australia, Pacific, Americas, Africa, w Europe
1975 Nov 18 22:24:12 Total 135 1.064 03h29m
00h40m
Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, w Australia
1976 May 13 19:55:08 Partial 140 0.122 01h15m e S. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1976 Nov 06 23:01:59 Penumbral 145 -0.259 - Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia
1977 Apr 04 04:19:04 Partial 112 0.193 01h35m Americas, Europe, Africa
1977 Sep 27 08:30:08 Penumbral 117 -0.136 - e Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas
1978 Mar 24 16:23:11 Total 122 1.452 03h39m
01h31m
Europe, Africa, Asia, Austraia, nw N America
1978 Sep 16 19:05:01 Total 127 1.327 03h27m
01h19m
Europe, Africa, Asia, Austraia
1979 Mar 13 21:08:52 Partial 132 0.854 03h18m S. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1979 Sep 06 10:55:02 Total 137 1.094 03h12m
00h44m
Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas
1980 Mar 01 20:46:03 Penumbral 142 -0.440 - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1980 Jul 27 19:08:59 Penumbral 109 -0.726 - Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1980 Aug 26 03:31:20 Penumbral 147 -0.253 - Americas, Europe, 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