Aug. 4, 1906, Total Lunar Eclipse Was Second of Two 1906 Lunar Eclipses

Summary: The Saturday, Aug. 4, 1906, total lunar eclipse was second of two 1906 lunar eclipses and the only 1906 eclipse with entire visibility for Australia.

"One phase of the total lunar eclipse August 4th, 1906"; black and white photograph, mounted on stiff cardboard with scalloped and gold painted edges; taken or owned by Australian astronomical photographer James Walter Short (Nov. 11, 1865-June 21, 1943); MAAS Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences object no. 2005/124/1-34: Powerhouse Museum @powerhousemuseum, via Facebook Jan. 31, 2018

The Saturday, Aug. 4, 1906, total lunar eclipse was the second of two 1906 lunar eclipses, both of which were total, and was the only 1906 eclipse offering entire visibility for Australia.

Full eclipse visibility for the August 1906 total lunar eclipse favors all of Australia as well as all of Micronesia; all of New Guinea and Melanesia; and all of New Zealand and Polynesia. The United States experienced full eclipse visibility by way of Pacific possessions in Micronesia (Guam, Wake Island) and Polynesia (American Samoa and the then-Territory of Hawaii; Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll). Most of the Aleutian Islands in the then-District of Alaska qualified for full eclipse visibility.

Full eclipse visibility was available to most of Japan, the Philippines and eastern Indonesia. Also, the Russian Far East's Kamchatka Peninsula and most of Sakhalin Island were favored with full eclipse visibility.

Oceanically, full eclipse visibility favored the West and Central Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean at Australia and some of the Southern Ocean.

Continentally, North America's Greenland, Europe and much of Africa are disfavored with no eclipse visibility. Also, the Arctic Ocean and much of the Atlantic Ocean are excluded from eclipse visibility.

The Saturday, Aug. 4, 1906, lunar eclipse began with a penumbral eclipse at 10:13:09 Universal Time (5:13 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, UTC-5), according to the NASA Eclipse Web Site's eclipse predictions by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) astrophysicist, now retired, Fred Espenak. The instant of first exterior contact of the lunar limb with Earth's penumbra (lighter, outer shadow), designated as P1, signals the penumbral lunar eclipse's start.

The August 1906 lunar event's partial umbral eclipse began at 11:10:42 UT (6:10 a.m. EST). The instant of first exterior contact of the lunar limb with the umbra (darker, inner shadow), designated as U1, initiates the partial lunar eclipse.

The August 1906 lunar event's total eclipse started at 12:09:29 UT (7:09 a.m. EST). The total lunar eclipse commences at the instant of first interior contact of the umbra with the moon, designated as U2.

Two additional contacts between the umbra and the moon characterize total lunar eclipses, as explained by Fred Espenak and Belgian mathematical astronomer Jean Meeus in the NASA Eclipse Web Site's "Explanation of Lunar Eclipse Figures," excerpted from their Goddard Space Flight Center publication, Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses (2009). The first and last interior contacts (U2 and U3, respectively) define a lunar eclipse's total phase.

The August 1906 total lunar eclipse's greatest eclipse occurred at 13:00:10.4 UT (8:00 a.m. EST). Greatest eclipse occurs in the period between the first and last interior umbral contacts. Greatest eclipse's geometry involves the moon's closest passage to the axis of Earth's shadow.

At greatest eclipse, the sun's geocentric coordinates were right ascension of 8 hours 54 minutes 41.5 seconds and declination of plus 17 degrees 25 arc minutes 7.7 arcseconds. The moon's geocentric coordinates were 20 hours 54 minutes 39.4 seconds and declination of minus 17 degrees 22 arcminutes 22 arcseconds.

The August 1906 lunar event's total eclipse ended at 13:50:39 UT (8:50 a.m. EST). The last interior umbral contact, designated as U3, signals closure of a total lunar eclipse.

The August 1906 lunar event's partial eclipse finished at 14:49:25 UT (9:49 a.m. EST). The instant of the last exterior contact of the umbra with the moon, designated as U4, closes a partial umbral eclipse.

The August 1906 lunar event's penumbral eclipse ended at 15:47:06 UT (10:47 a.m. EST). The instant of the last exterior contact of the penumbra with the moon, designated as P4, terminates a penumbral eclipse.

The August 1906 event's lunar details included the moon's placement in Capricorn the Sea-Goat constellation and occurrence 3.3 days after the lunar reach of perigee, according to Fred Espenak's EclipseWise website. Lunar perigee was gained Wednesday, Aug. 1, 6:50 UTC (1:50 a.m. EST), at a distance of 366,069 kilometers, according to computer programmer and computer-aided design (CAD) software company Autodesk co-founder John Walker's Fourmilab Switzerland website.

The August 1906 lunar event's penumbral eclipse had a duration of 5 hours 33 minutes 57 seconds, according to the NASA Eclipse Web Site's eclipse predictions by Fred Espenak. The event's partial lunar eclipse lasted 3 hours 38 minutes 43 seconds. The Saturday, Aug. 4, 1906, total lunar eclipse had a duration of 1 hour 41 minutes 9 seconds.

The Saturday, Aug. 4, 1906, figured as the second of two total lunar eclipses in 1906. The year's lineup featured five eclipses. The total lunar eclipse of Friday, Feb. 9, 1906, opened the 2021 lineup. Two partial solar eclipses, on Feb. 23 and July 21, succeeded the year's first lunar eclipse. The Monday, Aug. 20, partial solar eclipse followed the Saturday, Aug. 4, total lunar eclipse two weeks later as the last of the year's three solar eclipses and as the fifth and last of the year's five-member lineup.

The takeaways for the Saturday, Aug., 4, 1906, total lunar eclipse are that the event numbered as the second of the year's two total lunar eclipses; that the August 1906 lunar eclipse favored the West and Central Pacific with all-eclipse visibility; that the August 1906 total lunar eclipse was the only one of the year's five eclipses to favor Australia with all-eclipse visibility; and that the year's last of three partial solar eclipses shared the month of August with the Saturday, Aug. 4., total lunar eclipse and also closed the year's lineup of five eclipses.

graphics and details of total lunar eclipse Saturday, Aug. 4, 1906: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus, via NASA Eclipse Web Site

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

"One phase of the total lunar eclipse August 4th, 1906"; black and white photograph, mounted on stiff cardboard with scalloped and gold painted edges; taken or owned by Australian astronomical photographer James Walter Short (Nov. 11, 1865-June 21, 1943); MAAS Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences object no. 2005/124/1-34: Powerhouse Museum @powerhousemuseum, via Facebook Jan. 31, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/powerhousemuseum/posts/10156183510962718?__tn__=H-R

graphics and details of total lunar eclipse Saturday, Aug. 4, 1906: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA GSFC Emeritus, via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ http://www.eclipsewise.com/lunar/LEdisk/1901-2000/LE1906Feb09T.pdf

For further information:

Espenak, Fred. "Total 1906 Aug 04.” NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipse Links > Lunar Eclipses of Saros Series -29 to 190 > Summary of Saros Series 121 to 150 > Saros Series 127.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCLEmap/1901-2000/LE1906-08-04T.gif

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

Espenak, Fred. "Total Lunar Eclipse of 1906 Aug 4." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Ten Year Tables of Lunar Eclipses > Lunar Eclipses: 1901-1910.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot1901/LE1906Aug04T.pdf

Espenak, Fred; and Jean Meeus. "Explanation of Lunar Eclipse Figures." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/figure.html

Espenak, Fred; and Jean Meeus. "Key to Catalog of Lunar Eclipses." NASA Eclipse Web Site > Lunar Eclipses > Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000.
Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LEcatkey.html

Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Post. "Short Shoots for Stars." Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Post > Community. Feb. 28, 2021.
Available @ https://www.hkpost.com.au/community/short-shoots-for-stars

Maas Collection. "'The Observatory' Magazine." Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences MAAS.
Available @ https://collection.maas.museum/object/348188

Marriner, Derdriu. "Feb. 9, 1906, Total Lunar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Cycle 122." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/02/feb-9-1906-total-lunar-eclipse-belongs.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Total Lunar Eclipse Feb. 9, 1906, Was First of Two 1906 Lunar Eclipses." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/02/total-lunar-eclipse-feb-9-1906-was.html

Powerhouse Museum @powerhousemuseum. "While we are all experiencing Super Blue Blood Moon fever, take a look at this incredible image of a lunar eclipse that occurred in 1906 https://ma.as/8x6." Facebook. Jan. 31, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/powerhousemuseum/posts/10156183510962718?__tn__=H-R

Time and Date. "August 3, 1906 — Total Lunar Eclipse — Honolulu, HI, USA." Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/honolulu?iso=19060804

Time and Date. "August 4, 1906 Total Lunar Eclipse (Blood Moon)." Time and Date > Sun & Moon > Eclipses.
Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/1906-august-4

Time and Date. "August 4, 1906 — Total Lunar Eclipse — Easter Island, Chile (Rapa Nui)." Time and Date > Sun & Moon Available @ https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/chile/easter-island?iso=19060804

Walker, John. "Lunar Perigee and Apogee Calculator." Fourmilab Switzerland > Earth and Moon Viewer and Solar System Explorer.
Available @ https://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html