| Total eclipse | |||||||||||||||||
 The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left | |||||||||||||||||
| Date | May 13, 1957 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | 0.3046 | ||||||||||||||||
| Magnitude | 1.2982 | ||||||||||||||||
| Saros cycle | 130 (31 of 72) | ||||||||||||||||
| Totality | 77 minutes, 39 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Partiality | 211 minutes, 36 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Penumbral | 334 minutes, 57 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
A totallunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’sascending node of orbit on Monday, May 13, 1957,[1] with an umbralmagnitude of 1.2982. A lunar eclipse occurs when theMoon moves into theEarth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. Unlike asolar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on thenight side of Earth. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon'sshadow is smaller. Occurring about 3.25 days afterperigee (on May 9, 1957, at 4:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
This lunar eclipse was the third of analmost tetrad, with the others being onMay 24, 1956 (partial);November 18, 1956 (total); andNovember 7, 1957 (total).
The eclipse was completely visible overEurope,Africa, theMiddle East, andAntarctica, seen rising over easternNorth America andSouth America and setting over much ofAsia andAustralia.[3]
 |
Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Penumbral Magnitude | 2.30005 |
| Umbral Magnitude | 1.29822 |
| Gamma | 0.30457 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 03h21m53.2s |
| Sun Declination | +18°29'35.8" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'49.4" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 15h22m04.8s |
| Moon Declination | -18°12'09.6" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'47.7" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°57'58.1" |
| ΔT | 32.0 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse 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 afortnight.
| April 30 Descending node (new moon) | May 13 Ascending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
 | |
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 118 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 130 |
This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]
The penumbral lunar eclipse onJanuary 8, 1955 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the penumbral lunar eclipse onApril 4, 1958 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Lunar eclipse series sets from 1955 to 1958 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||||
| Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | |
| 110 | 1955 Jun 05 | Penumbral | −1.2384 | 115 | 1955 Nov 29 | Partial | 0.9551 | |
| 120 | 1956 May 24 | Partial | −0.4726 | 125 | 1956 Nov 18 | Total | 0.2917 | |
| 130 | 1957 May 13 | Total | 0.3046 | 135 | 1957 Nov 07 | Total | −0.4332 | |
| 140 | 1958 May 03 | Partial | 1.0188 | 145 | 1958 Oct 27 | Penumbral | −1.1571 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 10, 1416. It contains partial eclipses from September 4, 1560 throughApril 12, 1903; total eclipses fromApril 22, 1921 through September 11, 2155; and a second set of partial eclipses from September 21, 2173 through May 10, 2552. The series ends at member 71 as a penumbral eclipse on July 26, 2678.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 35 at 101 minutes, 53 seconds onJune 26, 2029. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit.[6]
| Greatest | First | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on2029 Jun 26, lasting 101 minutes, 53 seconds.[7] | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| 1416 Jun 10 | 1560 Sep 04 | 1921 Apr 22 | 1975 May 25 | |
| Last | ||||
| Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral | |
2083 Jul 29 | 2155 Sep 11 | 2552 May 10 | 2678 Jul 26 | |
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
| Series members 23–44 occur between 1801 and 2200: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 24 | 25 | |||
| 1813 Feb 15 | 1831 Feb 26 | 1849 Mar 09 | |||
| 26 | 27 | 28 | |||
| 1867 Mar 20 | 1885 Mar 30 | 1903 Apr 12 | |||
 |  | ||||
| 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
| 1921 Apr 22 | 1939 May 03 | 1957 May 13 | |||
|  |  |  | | |
| 32 | 33 | 34 | |||
| 1975 May 25 | 1993 Jun 04 | 2011 Jun 15 | |||
|  |  |  |  |  |
| 35 | 36 | 37 | |||
| 2029 Jun 26 | 2047 Jul 07 | 2065 Jul 17 | |||
|  |  |  |  |  |
| 38 | 39 | 40 | |||
| 2083 Jul 29 | 2101 Aug 09 | 2119 Aug 20 | |||
|  | ||||
| 41 | 42 | 43 | |||
| 2137 Aug 30 | 2155 Sep 11 | 2173 Sep 21 | |||
| 44 | |||||
| 2191 Oct 02 | |||||
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic 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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1804 Jul 22 (Saros 116) | 1815 Jun 21 (Saros 117) | 1826 May 21 (Saros 118) | 1837 Apr 20 (Saros 119) | 1848 Mar 19 (Saros 120) | |||||
| 1859 Feb 17 (Saros 121) | 1870 Jan 17 (Saros 122) | 1880 Dec 16 (Saros 123) | 1891 Nov 16 (Saros 124) | 1902 Oct 17 (Saros 125) | |||||
 |  | ||||||||
| 1913 Sep 15 (Saros 126) | 1924 Aug 14 (Saros 127) | 1935 Jul 16 (Saros 128) | 1946 Jun 14 (Saros 129) | 1957 May 13 (Saros 130) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | | |
| 1968 Apr 13 (Saros 131) | 1979 Mar 13 (Saros 132) | 1990 Feb 09 (Saros 133) | 2001 Jan 09 (Saros 134) | 2011 Dec 10 (Saros 135) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 2022 Nov 08 (Saros 136) | 2033 Oct 08 (Saros 137) | 2044 Sep 07 (Saros 138) | 2055 Aug 07 (Saros 139) | 2066 Jul 07 (Saros 140) | |||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | ||
| 2077 Jun 06 (Saros 141) | 2088 May 05 (Saros 142) | 2099 Apr 05 (Saros 143) | 2110 Mar 06 (Saros 144) | 2121 Feb 02 (Saros 145) | |||||
 |  | ||||||||
| 2132 Jan 02 (Saros 146) | 2142 Dec 03 (Saros 147) | 2153 Nov 01 (Saros 148) | 2164 Sep 30 (Saros 149) | 2175 Aug 31 (Saros 150) | |||||
| 2186 Jul 31 (Saros 151) | 2197 Jun 29 (Saros 152) | ||||||||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic 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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1812 Aug 22 (Saros 125) | 1841 Aug 02 (Saros 126) | 1870 Jul 12 (Saros 127) | |||
| 1899 Jun 23 (Saros 128) | 1928 Jun 03 (Saros 129) | 1957 May 13 (Saros 130) | |||
 |  | | | ||
| 1986 Apr 24 (Saros 131) | 2015 Apr 04 (Saros 132) | 2044 Mar 13 (Saros 133) | |||
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 2073 Feb 22 (Saros 134) | 2102 Feb 03 (Saros 135) | 2131 Jan 13 (Saros 136) | |||
| 2159 Dec 24 (Saros 137) | 2188 Dec 04 (Saros 138) | ||||
A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (ahalf saros).[8] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses ofSolar Saros 137.
| May 9, 1948 | May 20, 1966 |
|---|---|
 |  |
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