Total Lunar Eclipse Feb. 9, 1906, Was First of Two 1906 Lunar Eclipses

Summary: The total lunar eclipse Feb. 9, 1906, was the first of two 1906 lunar eclipses and was the only 1906 eclipse with entire visibility for North America.

graphics and details of total lunar eclipse Feb. 9, 1906: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The total lunar eclipse Feb. 9, 1906, was the first of two 1906 lunar eclipses, both of which were total, and was also the only one of five 1906 eclipses offering entire visibility to North America.

The total lunar eclipse Friday, Feb. 9, 1906, was mostly a North American event. Entire visibility favored all of the now-50 U.S. states. In 1906, the United States comprised 45 states, with the 20th century's five additions to statehood then classified as territories: Alaska (admitted 1959), Arizona (1912), Hawaii (1959), New Mexico (1912), Oklahoma (1907).

South America experienced varying degrees of visibility. Entire visibility was only available to northwestern South America. All of Colombia and Ecuador qualified for entire visibility. Western Venezuela and most of Peru fell within the path of entire visibility. A slice of far northwestern Brazil claimed total visibility.

Northernmost outposts in Europe and Asia experienced total visibility. In Europe, only the Arctic region's Svalbard Archipelago received entire visibility. In Asia, the eclipse's path of entire visibility was restricted to Russia. Russia's path of entire visibility included the Siberian Federal District's Taymyr Peninsula and Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago, and the Far Eastern Federal District's New Siberian Islands, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and northernmost Kamchatka Krai.

The eclipse lasted for 5 hours 42 minutes 45 seconds, according to EclipseWise website creator and retired NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) astrophysicist Fred Espenak. Totality endured for 1 hour 37 minutes 46 seconds.

The eclipse began with the instant of first exterior contact between the moon and Earth's penumbra (shadow's lighter, outer region). First contact occurred Friday, Feb. 9, at 4:55:27 Universal Time (Thursday, Feb. 8, at 11:55 p.m. Eastern Standard Time).

The instant of first exterior contact between the moon and Earth's umbra (shadow's darker, inner region) marked the eclipse's next significant event. This contact took place at 5:57:10 UT (12:57 a.m. EST, Friday, Feb. 9).

Totality began with the instant of first interior contact between the moon and Earth's umbra. Totality started at 6:58 UT (1:58 a.m. EST).

In lunar eclipses, greatest eclipse references the instant of the moon's closest passage to the axis of Earth's shadow cone. Greatest eclipse happened at 7:46:52.4 UT (2:46 a.m. EST).

Totality ended with the instant of last interior contact between the moon and Earth's umbra. Last interior contact occurred at 8:35:46 UT (3:35 a.m. EST).

The partial segment, which had been initiated by the first exterior contact between the moon and Earth's umbra, ended with last exterior contact between the moon and Earth's umbra. This last exterior umbral contact took place at 9:36:37 UT (4:36 a.m. EST).

Last exterior contact between the moon and Earth's penumbra finalized the February 1906 lunar event. The year's first lunar eclipse ended at 10:38:12 UT (5:38 a.m. EST).

American astronomer Joel Stebbins (July 30, 1878-March 16, 1966) conducted observations of the lunar near side's Linné Crater at the University of Illinois-Urbana Astronomical Observatory during the February 1906 eclipse. In his report in Popular Astronomy, he noted that, on a poor-to-best scale of zero to 5.5, his pre-totality seeing was 2, or fair. After totality, he assessed seeing as "much worse," rating a 1 (page 510).

The February 1906 total lunar eclipse ushered in the year's lineup of five eclipses. The year's first eclipse shared the month of February with the year's first solar eclipse. The first of three partial solar eclipses took place Friday, Feb. 23, 1906, with entire visibility restricted to Australia and Antarctica.

The year's second partial solar eclipse numbered as the year's third eclipse. The partial solar eclipse of Saturday, July 21, 1906, limited entire visibility to southernmost South America (southernmost Argentina and Chile).

The total lunar eclipse of Saturday, Aug. 4, numbered as the last of the year's two lunar eclipses. August's lunar eclipse favored the western Pacific Ocean, including the Japan and far northeastern Russia in the North Pacific and Australia, eastern Indonesia, New Guinea and the Philippines in the South Pacific.

The August lunar eclipse shared the month with the year's third partial solar eclipse. The solar eclipse of Monday, Aug. 20, skimmed northernmost Russia, northern Greenland, much of Canada, the northwestern continental United States and most of Alaska Territory.

The takeaways for the total lunar eclipse Feb. 9, 1906, are that the month’s lunar event occurs as the first of 1906’s two total lunar eclipses and that the event's path of entire visibility favored North America.

geometry of a lunar eclipse; February 2008: Sagredo, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

graphics and details of total lunar eclipse Feb. 9, 1906: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot1901/LE1906Feb09T.pdf

geometry of a lunar eclipse; February 2008: Sagredo, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geometry_of_a_Lunar_Eclipse.svg

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. “Partial Solar Eclipse of 1906 Aug 20.” EclipseWise; Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipse Links > Solar Eclipses: 1901-1910 .
http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/1901-2000/SE1906Aug20Pprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Partial Solar Eclipse of 1906 Feb 23.” EclipseWise; Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipse Links > Solar Eclipses: 1901-1910 .
Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/1901-2000/SE1906Feb23Pprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Partial Solar Eclipse of 1906 Jul 21.” EclipseWise; Solar Eclipses > Solar Eclipse Links > Solar Eclipses: 1901-1910 .
Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/1901-2000/SE1906Jul21Pprime.html

Espenak, Fred. “Total Lunar Eclipse of 1906 Feb 9.” EclipseWise; Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Links > Lunar Eclipses: 1901-1910 .
Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEdisk/1901-2000/LE1906Feb09T.pdf

Espenak, Fred. "Total Lunar Eclipse of 1906 Feb 09." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Page: Ten Year Tables of Lunar Eclipses: 1901-1910.
Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot1901/LE1906Feb09T.pdf

Espenak, Fred. “Total Lunar Eclipse of 1906 Aug 4.” EclipseWise; Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Links > Lunar Eclipses: 1901-1910 .
Available @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEprime/1901-2000/LE1906Aug04Tprime.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Joel Stebbins Observed Linné Crater During Feb. 8, 1906, Lunar Eclipse." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/01/joel-stebbins-observed-linne-crater.html

Stebbins, Joel. "Observations of the Crater Linné During the Lunar Eclipse of February 8, 1906." The Astronomical Journal, vol. XXV, no. 587, no. 11 (July 18, 1906): 87-88.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1906AJ.....25...87S
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1906AJ.....25...87S