May 1453 lunar eclipse

May 1453 lunar eclipse
Partial eclipse
Date22 May 1453
Gamma−0.6067
Magnitude0.7446
Saros cycle102 (56 of 84)
Partiality178 minutes, 43 seconds
Penumbral315 minutes, 27 seconds
Contacts (UTC)
P114:38:07
U115:46:39
Greatest17:15:49
U418:44:54
P419:53:34

A partial lunar eclipse occurred at the moon's ascending node on 22 May 1453, with an umbral magnitude of 0.7446. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when only part of the Moon is in the Earth's umbra, while the rest is in the Earth's penumbra. 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.

It was a member of Lunar Saros 102.

Observations

The eclipse was seen during the Fall of Constantinople (the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire), during the siege that lasted from Thursday, 5 April 1453 until Tuesday, 29 May 1453, after which the city fell to the Ottomans. The lunar eclipse was considered to be fulfilling a prophecy for the city's demise, which says a blood moon took place during the eclipse.[1][2][3]: 85 

Eclipse details

Below is a chart of various details and parameters of this eclipse.

22 May 1453 eclipse parameters[4]
Parameter Value
Penumbral magnitude 1.74506
Umbral magnitude 0.74464
Gamma -0.60666
Sun right ascension 04h 32m 35.6s
Sun declination +21° 59′ 11.9″
Sun semi-diameter 15'45.1"
Sun equatorial horizontal parallax 08.7"
Moon right ascension 16h 32m 27.9s
Moon declination −22° 34′ 12.3″
Moon semi-diameter 15'44.7"
Moon equatorial horizontal parallax 0°57'46.9"
ΔT 247.0 s

Visibility

The eclipse was completely visible over Asia and Oceania, seen rising over Africa and Europe and setting over the Pacific Ocean.[4][5] The eclipse occurred 5.2 days after perigee.[4]

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.[6]

Eclipse season of May–June 1453
May 22
Ascending node (full moon) 		June 7
Descending node (new moon)
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 102 		Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 128[7]

Eclipses in 1453

  • A partial lunar eclipse on 22 May.
  • A total solar eclipse on 7 June.
  • A total lunar eclipse on 16 November.
  • An annular eclipse on 30 November.

Metonic

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of 23 May 1434
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of 22 May 1472

Tzolkinex

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of 26 April 1446
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of 18 July 1460

Half-Saros

  • Preceded by: Solar eclipse of 17 May 1444
  • Followed by: Solar eclipse of 29 May 1462

Tritos

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of 13 June 1442
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of 22 April 1464

Saros

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of 12 May 1435
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of 3 June 1471

Inex

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of 12 June 1424
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of 3 May 1482

Triad

  • Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of 22 July 1366
  • Followed by: Lunar eclipse of 22 March 1540[a]

Semester series

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. Eclipses in a semester series of lunar eclipses repeat approximately every 177 days and 4 hours, termed a semester, at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[a]

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1452 to 1455
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Date
Viewing 		Type
Chart 		Gamma Saros Date Type Gamma
92 1452 Jun 02 Penumbral -1.42448 97 1452 Nov 27 Penumbral 1.03115
102 1453 May 22
 Partial
 -0.60666 107 1453 Nov 16 Total 0.36612
112 1454 May 12 Total 0.16833 117 1454 Nov 05 Total -0.33005
122 1455 May 01 Partial 0.88982 127 1455 Oct 25 Penumbral -1.00939

Saros 102

This eclipse was a member of Lunar Saros 102,[4] repeating every 18 years 11 days 8 hours at the ascending node of the Moon's orbit, and contained 84 events. The series began with a penumbral eclipse on 5 October 461. It contained partial eclipses from 20 May 840 to 13 July 930, then total eclipses from 23 July 948 to 20 April 1399, and a second set of partial eclipses from 1 May 1417 to 16 July 1543. The final event of the series was a penumbral eclipse on 4 April 1958.[10] The longest total eclipse of the series occurred on 18 October 1092, at 104.6 minutes of totality.

Greatest First

The greatest eclipse of the series occurred on 1092 Oct 18, lasting 104 minutes, 43 seconds.[11][12]

Penumbral Partial Total Central
0461 Oct 05 0840 May 20 0948 Jul 23 0984 Aug 14
Last
Central Total Partial Penumbral
1345 Mar 18 1399 Apr 20 1543 Jul 16 1958 Apr 04

Half-Saros cycle

A lunar eclipse will always be preceeded and followed by two solar eclipses by a period of 9 years and 5.5 days, a half-saros, or sar.[13]: 110 [8] This eclipse is related to two hybrid solar eclipses of Solar Saros 109.[11]

17 May 1444 29 May 1462

Notes

  1. ^ a b Calculated based on numbers from [8] and eclipses from [9]

References

  1. ^ "The fall of Constantinople". The Economist. 13 December 1999. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  2. ^ "Calendar, Moon Facts, Part 4 of 6 - Word Information". wordinfo.info. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  3. ^ Guillermier, Pierre (1999). Total eclipses : science, observations, myths, and legends. Internet Archive. New York : Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-160-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  4. ^ a b c d "EclipseWise - Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1453 May 22". www.eclipsewise.com. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  5. ^ Espenak, F. (7 June 2009), Partial Lunar Eclipse of 1453 May 22 (PDF), NASA's GSFC
  6. ^ "EclipseWise - Glossary of Eclipse and Astronomy Terms". www.eclipsewise.com. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  7. ^ "EclipseWise - Total Solar Eclipse of 1434 Jun 07". www.eclipsewise.com. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  8. ^ a b "A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles". webspace.science.uu.nl. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  9. ^ "EclipseWise - Six Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses". www.eclipsewise.com. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  10. ^ "EclipseWise - Catalog of Lunar Eclipses of Saros 102". www.eclipsewise.com. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  11. ^ a b Listing of Eclipses of series 102
  12. ^ "Total Lunar Eclipse of 7 Oct, 1074 AD". moonblink.info. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  13. ^ Meeus, Jean (1997). Mathematical astronomy morsels (1st English ed.). Richmond, Va: Willmann-Bell. ISBN 978-0-943396-51-4.
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