A total lunar eclipse took place on Sunday, January 30, 1972, the first of two lunar eclipses in 1972. The moon entered the Earth's penumbral shadow at 30 January 1972 08:03:12.5 UTC and exited at 30 January 1972 13:43:37.9 UTC. The moon entered the Earth's umbral shadow at 30 January 1972 09:11:38.4 UTC and exited at 30 January 1972 12:35:03.1 UTC. Totality lasted 34 minutes, 47.7 seconds (34.795 min), between 10:35:57.4 UTC and 11:10:45.1 UTC. The moon was 6.6 days before apogee (Apogee on Sunday, February 6, 1972), making it 1.6% smaller than average, only 0.2% larger than the July 1972's lunar eclipse.^[1]

Visibility

It was completely visible over eastern Asia, New Zealand, northwestern North America, seen rising over Asia and Australia and setting over North America and western South America.

Relation to other lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

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

Half-Saros cycle

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 annular solar eclipses of Solar Saros 140.

January 25, 1963	February 4, 1981

See also

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

Notes

External links

• 1972 Jan 30 chart Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC