April 1968 lunar eclipse

The moon travels right to left through the Earth's shadow (motion shown in hourly intervals)

A total lunar eclipse took place on April 13, 1968, the first of two total eclipses in 1968, the second being on October 6.

Visibility

It was visible from North and South America, as well as Africa and western Europe.

Related lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1966–1969

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart
111	1966 May 4	Penumbral		116	1966 Oct 29	Penumbral
121	1967 Apr 24	Total		126	1967 Oct 18	Total
131	1968 Apr 13	Total		136	1968 Oct 6	Total
141	1969 Apr 2	Penumbral		146	1969 Sep 25	Penumbral
Last set	1965 Jun 14			Last set	1965 Dec 8
Next set	1970 Feb 21			Next set	1969 Aug 27

Saros series

It is the second total lunar eclipse of the series.

Lunar Saros series 131, has 72 lunar eclipses.

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.

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.

Greatest	First
The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2094 Jun 28, lasting 102 minutes.[1]	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

Inex series

The inex series repeats eclipses 20 days short of 29 years, repeating on average every 10571.95 days. This period is equal to 358 lunations (synodic months) and 388.5 draconic months. Saros series increment by one on successive Inex events and repeat at alternate ascending and descending lunar nodes.

This period is 383.6734 anomalistic months (the period of the Moon's elliptical orbital precession). Despite the average 0.05 time-of-day shift between subsequent events, the variation of the Moon in its elliptical orbit at each event causes the actual eclipse time to vary significantly.

Series events from 1500–2500

Descending node		Ascending node		Descending node		Ascending node
Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart	Saros	Date Chart
115	1505 Feb 18	116	1534 Jan 30	117	1563 Jan 9	118	1591 Dec 30
119	1620 Dec 9	120	1649 Nov 19	121	1678 Oct 29	122	1707 Oct 11
123	1736 Sep 20	124	1765 Aug 30	125	1794 Aug 11	126	1823 Jul 23
127	1852 Jul 1	128	1881 Jun 12	129	1910 May 24	130	1939 May 3
131	1968 Apr 13	132	1997 Mar 24	133	2026 Mar 3	134	2055 Feb 11
135	2084 Jan 22	136	2113 Jan 2	137	2141 Dec 13	138	2170 Nov 23
139	2199 Nov 2	140	2228 Oct 14	141	2257 Sep 24	142	2286 Sep 3
143	2315 Aug 16	144	2344 Jul 26	145	2373 Jul 5	146	2402 Jun 16
147	2431 May 27	148	2460 May 5	149	2489 Apr 16

See also

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

Notes

External links

• 1968 Apr 13 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC

Lunar eclipses Lists of lunar eclipses All Central total eclipses Total penumbral eclipses Historically significant Lunar eclipses by century 20th BCE 19th BCE 18th BCE 17th BCE 16th BCE 15th BCE 14th BCE 13th BCE 12th BCE 11th BCE 10th BCE 9th BCE 8th BCE 7th BCE 6th BCE 5th BCE 4th BCE 3rd BCE 2nd BCE 1st BCE 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th Lunar eclipses by Saros series 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 Partial eclipses 1950–2049 1952 Feb 1952 Aug 1954 Jul 1955 Nov 1956 May 1958 May 1959 Mar 1961 Mar 1961 Aug 1963 Jul 1965 Jun 1970 Feb 1970 Aug 1972 Jul 1973 Dec 1974 Jun 1976 May 1977 Apr 1979 Mar 1981 Jul 1983 Jun 1988 Aug 1990 Aug 1991 Dec 1992 Jun 1994 May 1995 Apr 1997 Mar 1999 Jul 2001 Jul 2005 Oct 2006 Sep 2008 Aug 2009 Dec 2010 Jun 2012 Jun 2013 Apr → 2017 Aug 2019 Jul 2021 Nov 2023 Oct 2024 Sep 2026 Aug 2028 Jan 2028 Jul 2030 Jun 2034 Sep 2035 Aug 2037 Jul 2039 Jun 2039 Nov 2041 May 2041 Nov 2042 Sep 2046 Jan 2046 Jul 2048 Jun Total eclipses 1950–2049 1950 Apr 1950 Sep 1953 Jan 1953 Jul 1954 Jan 1956 Nov 1957 May 1957 Nov 1960 Mar 1960 Sep 1963 Dec 1964 Jun 1964 Dec 1967 Apr 1967 Oct 1968 Apr 1968 Oct 1971 Feb 1971 Aug 1972 Jan 1974 Nov 1975 May 1975 Nov 1978 Mar 1978 Sep 1979 Sep 1982 Jan 1982 Jul 1982 Dec 1985 May 1985 Oct 1986 Apr 1986 Oct 1989 Feb 1989 Aug 1990 Feb 1992 Dec 1993 Jun 1993 Nov 1996 Apr 1996 Sep 1997 Sep 2000 Jan 2000 Jul 2001 Jan 2003 May 2003 Nov 2004 May 2004 Oct 2007 Mar 2007 Aug 2008 Feb 2010 Dec 2011 Jun 2011 Dec 2014 Apr 2014 Oct 2015 Apr → 2015 Sep 2018 Jan 2018 Jul 2019 Jan 2021 May 2022 May 2022 Nov 2025 Mar 2025 Sep 2026 Mar 2028 Dec 2029 Jun 2029 Dec 2032 Apr 2032 Oct 2033 Apr 2033 Oct 2036 Feb 2036 Aug 2037 Jan 2040 May 2040 Nov 2043 Mar 2043 Sep 2044 Mar 2044 Sep 2047 Jan 2047 Jul 2048 Jan Penumbral eclipses Partial Previous penumbral: 2013 Oct 18 Next penumbral: → 2016 Mar 23 Total 1963 Jan 09 1981 Jan 20 1988 Mar 03 1999 Jan 31 2006 Mar 14 → 2053 Aug 29 See also Danjon scale Gamma Book Category Commons Portal WikiProject → symbol denotes next eclipse in series