March 1914 lunar eclipse

Partial eclipse
The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left
Date	March 12, 1914
Gamma	−0.5254
Magnitude	0.9111
Saros cycle	131 (28 of 72)
Partiality	181 minutes, 29 seconds
Penumbral	301 minutes, 28 seconds
Contacts (UTC) P1 1:42:08 U1 2:42:08 Greatest 4:12:52 U4 5:42:37 P4 6:43:36
← September 1913 September 1914 →

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, March 12, 1914,^[1] with an umbral magnitude of 0.9111. 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 only about 18 hours before perigee (on March 12, 1914, at 22:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.^[2]

The eclipse was completely visible over North America, South America, and west Africa, seen rising over northwestern North America and the central Pacific Ocean and setting over much of Africa, Europe, and west and central Asia.^[3]

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

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 February–March 1914

February 25 Ascending node (new moon)	March 12 Descending node (full moon)
Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 119	Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 131

• An annular solar eclipse on February 25.
• A partial lunar eclipse on March 12.
• A total solar eclipse on August 21.
• A partial lunar eclipse on September 4.

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 24, 1910
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 28, 1917

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 29, 1907
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 22, 1921

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 6, 1905
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 17, 1923

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 12, 1903
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 8, 1925

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 28, 1896
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 22, 1932

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 30, 1885
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of February 20, 1943

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 11, 1827
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 2001

Lunar Saros series 131, has 72 lunar eclipses. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

This eclipse series began in AD 1427 with a partial eclipse at the southern edge of the Earth's shadow when the Moon was close to its descending node. Each successive Saros cycle, the Moon's orbital path is shifted northward with respect to the Earth's shadow, with the first total eclipse occurring in 1950. For the following 252 years, total eclipses occur, with the central eclipse being predicted to occur in 2078. The first partial eclipse after this is predicted to occur in the year 2220, and the final partial eclipse of the series will occur in 2707. The total lifetime of the lunar Saros series 131 is 1280 years. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Because of the ⅓ fraction of days in a Saros cycle, the visibility of each eclipse will differ for an observer at a given fixed locale. For the lunar Saros series 131, the first total eclipse of 1950 had its best visibility for viewers in Eastern Europe and the Middle East because mid-eclipse was at 20:44 UT. The following eclipse in the series occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day with mid-eclipse at 4:47 UT, and was best seen from North America and South America. The third total eclipse occurred approximately 8 hours later in the day than the second eclipse with mid-eclipse at 12:43 UT, and had its best visibility for viewers in the Western Pacific, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. This cycle of visibility repeats from the initiation to termination of the series, with minor variations. Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Lunar Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 72 lunar eclipse events including 57 umbral lunar eclipses (42 partial lunar eclipses and 15 total lunar eclipses). Solar Saros 138 interleaves with this lunar saros with an event occurring every 9 years 5 days alternating between each saros series.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2094 Jun 28, lasting 102 minutes.[5]	Penumbral	Partial	Total	Central
	1427 May 10	1553 July 25	1950 Apr 2	2022 May 16
	Last
	Central	Total	Partial	Penumbral
	2148 Jul 31	2202 Sep 3	2563 Apr 9	2707 Jul 7

1901–2100

1914 Mar 12		1932 Mar 22		1950 Apr 2
1968 Apr 13		1986 Apr 24		2004 May 4
2022 May 16		2040 May 26		2058 Jun 6
2076 Jun 17		2094 Jun 28

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros).^[6] This lunar eclipse is related to two annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 138.

March 6, 1905	March 17, 1923

• List of lunar eclipses
• List of 20th-century lunar eclipses

• 1914 Mar 12 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC