Lunar Eclipses: 1941 - 1950

Fred Espenak

A concise summary of all lunar eclipses from 1941 through 1950 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: 1941 - 1950
Calendar Date TD of Greatest Eclipse Eclipse Type Saros Series Umbral Magnitude Eclipse Duration Geographic Region of Eclipse Visibility
1941 Mar 13 11:55:47 Partial 112 0.323 02h00m Asia, Australia, N America, w S America
1941 Sep 05 17:47:15 Partial 117 0.051 00h53m Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia,
1942 Mar 03 00:21:54 Total 122 1.561 03h40m
01h36m
Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, w Australia
1942 Aug 26 03:48:25 Total 127 1.534 03h34m
01h33m
Americas, Europe, Africa
1943 Feb 20 05:38:23 Partial 132 0.762 03h09m Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1943 Aug 15 19:28:46 Partial 137 0.870 02h58m e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1944 Feb 09 05:14:57 Penumbral 142 -0.522 - n Asia, Americas, Europe, Africa
1944 Jul 06 04:40:01 Penumbral 109 -0.440 - Americas, w Europe, Africa
1944 Aug 04 12:26:51 Penumbral 147 -0.476 - e Asia, Australia, w Americas
1944 Dec 29 14:49:35 Penumbral 114 -0.018 - Europe, e Africa, Asia, Australia, N America
1945 Jun 25 15:14:22 Partial 119 0.859 03h13m e Africa, Asia, Australia, w N America
1945 Dec 19 02:20:47 Total 124 1.342 03h25m
01h19m
Americas, Europe, Africa, e Asia
1946 Jun 14 18:39:17 Total 129 1.398 03h49m
01h31m
e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia,
1946 Dec 08 17:48:28 Total 134 1.164 03h15m
00h57m
n N America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1947 Jun 03 19:15:44 Partial 139 0.020 00h35m e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1947 Nov 28 08:34:29 Penumbral 144 -0.130 - e Asia, e Australia, Americas, w Africa, w Europe
1948 Apr 23 13:39:18 Partial 111 0.023 00h34m e Africa, Asia, Australia, w N America
1948 Oct 18 02:35:41 Penumbral 116 -0.057 - Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1949 Apr 13 04:11:25 Total 121 1.425 03h26m
01h25m
Americas, Europe, Africa
1949 Oct 07 02:56:55 Total 126 1.224 03h43m
01h13m
Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia
1950 Apr 02 20:44:34 Total 131 1.033 03h10m
00h27m
e S America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia
1950 Sep 26 04:17:11 Total 136 1.078 03h30m
00h44m
Americas, Europe, Africa, w Asia

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