February 1970 lunar eclipse

February 1970 lunar eclipse
Partial eclipse
Date	21 February 1970
Gamma	0.96198
Magnitude	0.04639
Saros cycle	113 (61 of 71)
Partiality	52 minutes, 42.4 seconds
Penumbral	298 minutes, 37.5 seconds
P1
Contacts (UTC)
P1	06:00:45.3
U1	08:03:45.1
Greatest	08:30:03.4
U4	08:56:27.5
P4	10:59:22.8
	← September 1969 August 1970 →

A partial lunar eclipse took place on Saturday, February 21, 1970. It was the first of two partial lunar eclipses in 1970, the other being on August 17 of the same year. A tiny bite out of the Moon may have been visible at maximum, though just 5% of the Moon was shadowed in a partial eclipse which lasted for 52 minutes and 42 seconds. A shading across the moon from the Earth's penumbral shadow should have been visible at maximum eclipse.

Occurring only 2.4 days after apogee (Apogee on Wednesday, February 18, 1970), the Moon's apparent diameter was 6% smaller than average. The Moon was only 404,163 km (251,135 mi) from the Earth's center.^[1]

Visibility[edit]

It was completely visible over eastern Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas, western Europe, seen rising over northwestern Pacific Ocean and setting over the north Atlantic Ocean.

Relation to other lunar eclipses[edit]

Lunar year series[edit]

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1969–1973
Ascending node				Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
108	1969 Aug 27	Penumbral	−1.54066	113	1970 Feb 21	Partial	0.96198
118	1970 Aug 17	Partial	−0.80534	123	1971 Feb 10	Total	0.27413
128	1971 Aug 6	Total	−0.07944	133	1972 Jan 30	Total	−0.42729
138	1972 Jul 26	Partial	0.71167	143	1973 Jan 18	Penumbral	−1.08446
148	1973 Jul 15	Penumbral	1.51782

Last set	1969 Sep 25			Last set	1969 Apr 2

Next set	1973 Jun 15			Next set	1973 Dec 10

Metonic cycle[edit]

This is the third of five Metonic lunar eclipses.

The Metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Metonic lunar eclipse sets 1951–2027
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type	Saros	Date	Type
103	1951 Feb 21.88	Penumbral	108	1951 Aug 17.13	Penumbral

113	1970 Feb 21.35	Partial	118	1970 Aug 17.14	Partial

123	1989 Feb 20.64	Total	128	1989 Aug 17.13	Total

133	2008 Feb 21.14	Total	138	2008 Aug 16.88	Partial

143	2027 Feb 20.96	Penumbral	148	2027 Aug 17.30	Penumbral

Half-Saros cycle[edit]

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[2] This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 120.