A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, March 13, 1979, with an umbral magnitude of 0.8538. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when one part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the other part is in the Earth's penumbra. 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. Occurring about 3.5 days after apogee (on March 10, 1979, at 10:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Visibility
The eclipse was completely visible over much of Africa, Europe, and the western half of Asia, seen rising over eastern North America, South America, and west Africa and setting over east and northeast Asia and Australia.
Eclipse details
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
Eclipse season
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.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 1979
- A total solar eclipse on February 26.
- A partial lunar eclipse on March 13.
- An annular solar eclipse on August 22.
- A total lunar eclipse on September 6.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 25, 1975
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 30, 1982
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 30, 1972
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 1986
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988
Tritos
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 13, 1968
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 9, 1990
Lunar Saros 132
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 2, 1961
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1997
Inex
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 2, 1950
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 21, 2008
Triad
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 11, 1892
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 11, 2066
Lunar eclipses of 1977–1980
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.
The penumbral lunar eclipse on July 27, 1980 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 132
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 132, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 12, 1492. It contains partial eclipses from August 16, 1636 through March 24, 1997; total eclipses from April 4, 2015 through August 2, 2213; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 13, 2231 through November 30, 2411. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 26, 2754.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 36 at 106 minutes, 6 seconds on June 9, 2123. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
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
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.
Inex series
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Half-Saros cycle
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 139.
See also
- List of lunar eclipses
- List of 20th-century lunar eclipses
Notes
External links
- 1979 Mar 13 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
