May 1966 lunar eclipse

A penumbral lunar eclipse took place on Wednesday, May 4, 1966, the first of two penumbral lunar eclipses in 1966. It was visible from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Antarctica.^[1]

Visibility

The penumbral eclipse was visible in South America, Europe, Africa, central Asia and Australia, seen rising over North Atlantic Ocean and South America and setting over Australia, South China Sea and East China Sea as of today.

Related lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1966–1969
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma	Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
111	1966 May 4	Penumbral	1.05536	116	1966 Oct 29	Penumbral	−1.05999
121	1967 Apr 24	Total	0.29722	126	1967 Oct 18	Total	−0.36529
131	1968 Apr 13	Total	−0.41732	136	1968 Oct 6	Total	0.36054
141	1969 Apr 2	Penumbral	−1.17648	146	1969 Sep 25	Penumbral	1.06558

Last set	1965 Jun 14			Last set	1965 Dec 8

Next set	1970 Feb 21			Next set	1969 Aug 27

Saros series

Lunar Saros 111, repeating every 18 years and 11 days, has a total of 71 lunar eclipse events including 11 total lunar eclipses. The first total lunar eclipse of this series was on April 19, 1353, and last was on August 4, 1533. The longest occurrence of this series was on June 12, 1443 when the totality lasted 106 minutes.

Metonic series

The metonic cycle repeats nearly exactly every 19 years and represents a Saros cycle plus one lunar year. Because it occurs on the same calendar date, the Earth's shadow will in nearly the same location relative to the background stars.

Metonic events: May 4 and October 28
Descending node	Ascending node
1966 May 4 - Penumbral (111) 1985 May 4 - Total (121) 2004 May 4 - Total (131) 2023 May 5 - Penumbral (141)	1966 Oct 29 - Penumbral (116) 1985 Oct 28 - Total (126) 2004 Oct 28 - Total (136) 2023 Oct 28 - Partial (146) 2042 Oct 28 - Penumbral (156)

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 solar eclipses of Solar Saros 118.