# December 1964 lunar eclipse

A total lunar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, December 19, 1964, with an umbral magnitude of 1.1748. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon's near side entirely passes into the Earth's umbral shadow. 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. A total lunar eclipse can last up to nearly two hours, while a total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes at any given place, because the Moon's shadow is smaller. Occurring only about 8.5 hours before perigee (on December 19, 1964, at 11:05 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The eclipse afforded astrophysicist J. M. Saari the opportunity to make infrared pyrometric scans of the lunar surface with improved equipment, following up on Richard W. Shorthill's discovery of "hot spots" in the Tycho crater during the March 13, 1960 eclipse.

## Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over North and South America, west Africa, Europe, and north Asia, seen rising over the eastern Pacific Ocean and setting over southern and east Africa and the western half of Asia.

## Eclipse details

Shown below is a table displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. It describes various parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
December 19, 1964 Lunar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Penumbral Magnitude | 2.14609 |
| Umbral Magnitude | 1.17483 |
| Gamma | 0.38008 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 17h47m56.6s |
| Sun Declination | -23°24'54.1" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'15.4" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 05h47m44.4s |
| Moon Declination | +23°48'04.8" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'44.3" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'25.8" |
| ΔT | 35.8 s |

## Eclipse season

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 December 1964 :
| December 4 Descending node (new moon) | December 19 Ascending node (full moon) |
| Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 122 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 134 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1964

* A partial solar eclipse on January 14.
* A partial solar eclipse on June 10.
* A total lunar eclipse on June 25.
* A partial solar eclipse on July 9.
* A partial solar eclipse on December 4.
* A total lunar eclipse on December 19.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 2, 1961
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 6, 1968

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 7, 1957
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 30, 1972

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 19, 1954
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 18, 1975

### Lunar Saros 134

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1946
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 30, 1982

### Inex

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 8, 1936
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of November 29, 1993

### Triad

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of February 17, 1878
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 19, 2051

### Lunar eclipses of 1962–1965

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The penumbral lunar eclipses on February 19, 1962 and August 15, 1962 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Lunar eclipse series sets from 1962 to 1965 :
| Descending node | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node |
| Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma | Saros | Date Viewing | Type Chart | Gamma |
| 109 | 1962 Jul 17 | Penumbral | 1.3371 | 114 | 1963 Jan 09 | Penumbral | −1.0128 |
| 119 | 1963 Jul 06 | Partial | 0.6197 | 124 | 1963 Dec 30 | Total | −0.2889 |
| 129 | 1964 Jun 25 | Total | −0.1461 | 134 | 1964 Dec 19 | Total | 0.3801 |
| 139 | 1965 Jun 14 | Partial | −0.9006 | 144 | 1965 Dec 08 | Penumbral | 1.0775 |

### Saros 134

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 134, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on April 1, 1550. It contains partial eclipses from July 7, 1694 through October 13, 1856; total eclipses from October 25, 1874 through July 26, 2325; and a second set of partial eclipses from August 7, 2343 through November 12, 2505. The series ends at member 72 as a penumbral eclipse on May 28, 2830.
The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 38 at 100 minutes, 23 seconds on May 22, 2217. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
| Greatest | First | First | First | First |
| The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2217 May 22, lasting 100 minutes, 23 seconds. | Penumbral | Partial | Total | Central |
| The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2217 May 22, lasting 100 minutes, 23 seconds. | 1550 Apr 01 | 1694 Jul 07 | 1874 Oct 25 | 2127 Mar 28 |
| Last ||||
| The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2217 May 22, lasting 100 minutes, 23 seconds. | Central | Total | Partial | Penumbral |
| The greatest eclipse of the series will occur on 2217 May 22, lasting 100 minutes, 23 seconds. | 2289 Jul 04 | 2325 Jul 26 | 2505 Nov 12 | 2830 May 28 |
Eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
Series members 15–37 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 17 |
| 1802 Sep 11 | 1802 Sep 11 | 1820 Sep 22 | 1820 Sep 22 | 1838 Oct 03 | 1838 Oct 03 |
| 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 20 |
| 1856 Oct 13 | 1856 Oct 13 | 1874 Oct 25 | 1874 Oct 25 | 1892 Nov 04 | 1892 Nov 04 |
| 21 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 23 |
| 1910 Nov 17 | 1910 Nov 17 | 1928 Nov 27 | 1928 Nov 27 | 1946 Dec 08 | 1946 Dec 08 |
| 24 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 26 |
| 1964 Dec 19 | 1964 Dec 19 | 1982 Dec 30 | 1982 Dec 30 | 2001 Jan 09 | 2001 Jan 09 |
| 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 29 | 29 |
| 2019 Jan 21 | 2019 Jan 21 | 2037 Jan 31 | 2037 Jan 31 | 2055 Feb 11 | 2055 Feb 11 |
| 30 | 30 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 32 |
| 2073 Feb 22 | 2073 Feb 22 | 2091 Mar 05 | 2091 Mar 05 | 2109 Mar 17 | 2109 Mar 17 |
| 33 | 33 | 34 | 34 | 35 | 35 |
| 2127 Mar 28 | 2127 Mar 28 | 2145 Apr 07 | 2145 Apr 07 | 2163 Apr 19 | 2163 Apr 19 |
| 36 | 36 | 37 | 37 |
| 2181 Apr 29 | 2181 Apr 29 | 2199 May 10 | 2199 May 10 |

### Tritos series

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Series members between 1801 and 2200 :
| 1801 Mar 30 (Saros 119) | 1801 Mar 30 (Saros 119) | 1812 Feb 27 (Saros 120) | 1812 Feb 27 (Saros 120) | 1823 Jan 26 (Saros 121) | 1823 Jan 26 (Saros 121) | 1833 Dec 26 (Saros 122) | 1833 Dec 26 (Saros 122) | 1844 Nov 24 (Saros 123) | 1844 Nov 24 (Saros 123) |
| 1855 Oct 25 (Saros 124) | 1855 Oct 25 (Saros 124) | 1866 Sep 24 (Saros 125) | 1866 Sep 24 (Saros 125) | 1877 Aug 23 (Saros 126) | 1877 Aug 23 (Saros 126) | 1888 Jul 23 (Saros 127) | 1888 Jul 23 (Saros 127) | 1899 Jun 23 (Saros 128) | 1899 Jun 23 (Saros 128) |
| 1910 May 24 (Saros 129) | 1910 May 24 (Saros 129) | 1921 Apr 22 (Saros 130) | 1921 Apr 22 (Saros 130) | 1932 Mar 22 (Saros 131) | 1932 Mar 22 (Saros 131) | 1943 Feb 20 (Saros 132) | 1943 Feb 20 (Saros 132) | 1954 Jan 19 (Saros 133) | 1954 Jan 19 (Saros 133) |
| 1964 Dec 19 (Saros 134) | 1964 Dec 19 (Saros 134) | 1975 Nov 18 (Saros 135) | 1975 Nov 18 (Saros 135) | 1986 Oct 17 (Saros 136) | 1986 Oct 17 (Saros 136) | 1997 Sep 16 (Saros 137) | 1997 Sep 16 (Saros 137) | 2008 Aug 16 (Saros 138) | 2008 Aug 16 (Saros 138) |
| 2019 Jul 16 (Saros 139) | 2019 Jul 16 (Saros 139) | 2030 Jun 15 (Saros 140) | 2030 Jun 15 (Saros 140) | 2041 May 16 (Saros 141) | 2041 May 16 (Saros 141) | 2052 Apr 14 (Saros 142) | 2052 Apr 14 (Saros 142) | 2063 Mar 14 (Saros 143) | 2063 Mar 14 (Saros 143) |
| 2074 Feb 11 (Saros 144) | 2074 Feb 11 (Saros 144) | 2085 Jan 10 (Saros 145) | 2085 Jan 10 (Saros 145) | 2095 Dec 11 (Saros 146) | 2095 Dec 11 (Saros 146) | 2106 Nov 11 (Saros 147) | 2106 Nov 11 (Saros 147) | 2117 Oct 10 (Saros 148) | 2117 Oct 10 (Saros 148) |
| 2128 Sep 09 (Saros 149) | 2128 Sep 09 (Saros 149) | 2139 Aug 10 (Saros 150) | 2139 Aug 10 (Saros 150) | 2150 Jul 09 (Saros 151) | 2150 Jul 09 (Saros 151) | 2161 Jun 08 (Saros 152) | 2161 Jun 08 (Saros 152) | 2172 May 08 (Saros 153) | 2172 May 08 (Saros 153) |
| | | 2194 Mar 07 (Saros 155) | 2194 Mar 07 (Saros 155) |

### Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Series members between 1801 and 2200 :
| 1820 Mar 29 (Saros 129) | 1820 Mar 29 (Saros 129) | 1849 Mar 09 (Saros 130) | 1849 Mar 09 (Saros 130) | 1878 Feb 17 (Saros 131) | 1878 Feb 17 (Saros 131) |
| 1907 Jan 29 (Saros 132) | 1907 Jan 29 (Saros 132) | 1936 Jan 08 (Saros 133) | 1936 Jan 08 (Saros 133) | 1964 Dec 19 (Saros 134) | 1964 Dec 19 (Saros 134) |
| 1993 Nov 29 (Saros 135) | 1993 Nov 29 (Saros 135) | 2022 Nov 08 (Saros 136) | 2022 Nov 08 (Saros 136) | 2051 Oct 19 (Saros 137) | 2051 Oct 19 (Saros 137) |
| 2080 Sep 29 (Saros 138) | 2080 Sep 29 (Saros 138) | 2109 Sep 09 (Saros 139) | 2109 Sep 09 (Saros 139) | 2138 Aug 20 (Saros 140) | 2138 Aug 20 (Saros 140) |
| 2167 Aug 01 (Saros 141) | 2167 Aug 01 (Saros 141) | 2196 Jul 10 (Saros 142) | 2196 Jul 10 (Saros 142) |

### Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will be preceded and followed by solar eclipses by 9 years and 5.5 days (a half saros). This lunar eclipse is related to two total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 141.
| December 14, 1955 | December 24, 1973 |