A penumbral

lunar eclipse A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Eart ...

occurred at the Moon’s

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of refere ...

of orbit on Tuesday, May 25, 1937, with an umbral

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of −0.3033. A lunar eclipse occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

moves into the

Earth's shadow Earth's shadow (or Earth shadow) is the shadow that Earth itself casts through its atmosphere and into outer space, toward the antisolar point. During the twilight period (both early dusk and late dawn), the shadow's visible fringe – somet ...

, 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 A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mo ...

, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As view ...

side of Earth. Occurring only about 18 hours after

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any el ...

(on May 24, 1937, at 13:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over much of North America, western and central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

, and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

, seen rising over Australia and setting over northeastern North America, eastern South America, and

west Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...

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 An eclipse season is the period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Moon's tilted orbital plane ( tilted five degrees to the Earth's orbital plane), just as Earth's we ...

, 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 A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days," since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is h ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1937

* A penumbral lunar eclipse on May 25. * A total solar eclipse on June 8. * A partial lunar eclipse on November 18. * An annular solar eclipse on December 2.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 5, 1933 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1941

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 13, 1930 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 6, 1944

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 19, 1928 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1946

Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 25, 1926 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 23, 1948

Lunar Saros 110

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 15, 1919 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 5, 1955

Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of June 14, 1908 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 4, 1966

Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 24, 1850 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 25, 2024

Lunar eclipses of 1937–1940

Saros 110

Tritos series

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).Mathematical Astronomy Morsels, Jean Meeus, p.110, Chapter 18, ''The half-saros'' This lunar eclipse is related to one total and one partial = two solar eclipses of

Solar Saros 117 Saros cycle series 117 for solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during a ...

Notes

External links

* 1937-05 1937 in science {{lunar-eclipse-stub