December 1944 lunar eclipse

December 1944 lunar eclipse
Penumbral eclipse
	The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	December 29, 1944
Gamma	−1.0115
Magnitude	−0.0176
Saros cycle	114 (55 of 71)
Penumbral	266 minutes, 39 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	12:35:46
Greatest	14:49:08
P4	17:02:25
	← August 1944 June 1945 →

A penumbral lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Friday, December 29, 1944,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of −0.0176. It was a relatively rare total penumbral lunar eclipse, with the Moon passing entirely within the penumbral shadow without entering the darker umbral shadow. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when part or all of the Moon's near side passes into 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 6 days after perigee (on December 23, 1944, at 12:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

This eclipse was the last of four penumbral lunar eclipses in 1944, with the others occurring on February 9, July 6, and August 4.

Saturn was conjunct with the Moon during this eclipse.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over much of Asia, Australia, and northwestern North America, seen rising over Europe, east Africa, and the Middle East and setting over much of North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean.^[3]

Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.^[4]

December 29, 1944 Lunar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter	Value
Penumbral Magnitude	1.02198
Umbral Magnitude	−0.01757
Gamma	−1.01151
Sun Right Ascension	18h33m56.1s
Sun Declination	-23°12'58.6"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'15.9"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	06h34m05.9s
Moon Declination	+22°14'56.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'38.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°57'25.5"
ΔT	26.9 s

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.

Eclipse season of December 1944–January 1945
December 29 Ascending node (full moon)	January 14 Descending node (new moon)

Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 114	Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 140

Related eclipses

Lunar eclipses of 1944–1947

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.^[5]

The penumbral lunar eclipses on February 9, 1944 and August 4, 1944 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1944 to 1947
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
109	1944 Jul 06	Penumbral	1.2597	114	1944 Dec 29	Penumbral	−1.0115
119	1945 Jun 25	Partial	0.5370	124	1945 Dec 19	Total	−0.2845
129	1946 Jun 14	Total	−0.2324	134	1946 Dec 08	Total	0.3864
139	1947 Jun 03	Partial	−0.9850	144	1947 Nov 28	Penumbral	1.0838

Saros 114

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 114, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on May 13, 971 AD. It contains partial eclipses from August 7, 1115 through February 18, 1440; total eclipses from February 28, 1458 through July 17, 1674; and a second set of partial eclipses from July 28, 1692 through November 26, 1890. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on June 22, 2233.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 35 at 106 minutes, 5 seconds on May 24, 1584. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.^[6]

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1584 May 24, lasting 106 minutes, 5 seconds.^[7]	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	971 May 13	1115 Aug 07	1458 Feb 28	1530 Apr 12
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	1638 Jun 26	1674 Jul 17	1890 Nov 26	2233 Jun 22

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.

Series members 48–69 occur between 1801 and 2200:
48	49	50
1818 Oct 14	1836 Oct 24	1854 Nov 04

51	52	53
1872 Nov 15	1890 Nov 26	1908 Dec 07

54	55	56
1926 Dec 19	1944 Dec 29	1963 Jan 09

57	58	59
1981 Jan 20	1999 Jan 31	2017 Feb 11

60	61	62
2035 Feb 22	2053 Mar 04	2071 Mar 16

63	64	65
2089 Mar 26	2107 Apr 07	2125 Apr 18

66	67	68
2143 Apr 29	2161 May 09	2179 May 21

69
2197 May 31

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 121.