December 1964 lunar eclipse
| Total eclipse | |||||||||||||||||
The Moon's hourly motion shown right to left | |||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 19, 1964 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Gamma | 0.3801 | ||||||||||||||||
| Magnitude | 1.1748 | ||||||||||||||||
| Saros cycle | 134 (24 of 73) | ||||||||||||||||
| Totality | 58 minutes, 56 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Partiality | 195 minutes, 28 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
| Penumbral | 310 minutes, 5 seconds | ||||||||||||||||
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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.