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"The June 24, 1964 lunar eclipse was the first lunar eclipse I saw, about two weeks after completing 8th grade and graduating from St. Joan of Arc School in Yorkship Village. My brother Den, who had just finished 6th grade at SJOA, and I had anticipated this eclipse for some time as we had a little astronomy book that gave us the dates of eclipses. It was a nice warm summer Wednesday evening. Carl Richards, a friend of my dad - L. Michael Ruiz - had called to visit. Though my dad didn't usually have guests over during week days, he made an exception for this friend who wanted to talk.
"Outside of my home at 2848 Idaho Road I could hear my dad and friend talking through the open windows. The summer evening was clear. My brother and I finally saw the reddish moon in the eastern sky looking over the roofs on the side of Idaho Road behind which runs Yorkship Road. The time was between 9 and 10 pm. The Sun had set earlier in the western sky in the direction beyond the Walt Whitman Bridge that crosses the Delaware River joining Camden, NJ and Philadelphia, PA.
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"The moon often appears red during a total eclipse as sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere bends inward toward the Moon (refraction). Since the blue light gets scattered out (that's why the sky is blue), the remaining light is rich in red like a sunset sky.
"Seeing the majestic red moon above the rooftops of the Fairview homes that enchanting summer evening was a very memorable event." Michael J. Ruiz (March 4, 2007).
Simplified Lunar Eclipse Ray Diagram (Not To Scale)
The Moon in the above diagram is inside the total shadow (umbra) of the Earth. When the Moon's shadow (see below) falls on the Earth we have a total solar eclipse. The last total solar eclipse that occurred in the Philadelphia area was the solar eclipse observed in 1778 by the astronomer David Rittenhouse of Rittenhouse Square fame. The shadow of the Moon during a total solar eclipse in 1925 swept across northeastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey.
Simplified Solar Eclipse Ray Diagram (Not To Scale)
Although solar eclipses are common if you have money to travel wherever you need to in order to see one, they occur about every 400 years for a given geographical location on Earth. Check out the total solar eclipse below. But never look at the Sun because you can easily damage your eyes. At two instances you see the scattering of light by the lunar terrain - the "diamond-ring effect." During totality, the outer atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona, is visible. The Sun appears orange due to a telescope filter.
Courtesy Fred Espenak
Total solar eclipse paths are given below from 1900 to 2020. One experiences a total solar eclipse if one is located within the blue path. Outside this path occurs a partial eclipse. For the red paths, the Moon's shadow does not reach the Earth due to slight variations in the Moon's orbit. These eclipses are called "Annular Eclipses" because a ring of sunlight appears around the Moon during the middle phase of the eclipse. Again, never look at the Sun because you can easily damage your eyes.
Total Solar Eclipse Paths (Blue), Shadow Does Not Reach Earth (Red)
Courtesy Fred Espenak
Courtesy Fred Espenak
Courtesy Fred Espenak
Courtesy Fred Espenak
"I recall the 1970 solar eclipse which was nearly total at the location of Fairview. The eclipse was also covered on TV. When the eclipse was over and the Sun came back out, the TV station played 'Here Comes the Sun' by the Beatles as the credits rolled up on the TV." MJRuiz
Courtesy Fred Espenak
Courtesy Fred Espenak
The tables below are prepared from eclipse schematics made available by eclipse expert Fred Espenak of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). We only include eclipses where totality was visible (past eclipses) or will be visible (future eclipses), contingent on clear skies, from Fairview. See the NASA Eclipse Home Page for more information.
You can also find there explanations for abbreviations found in the charts. Below, EST = Eastern Standard Time and DST = Daylight Saving Time for Fairview. Click on each date in the table below.
| Total Lunar Eclipses: 1900 - 1916 (Pre-Fairview) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Through Midnight | Enter Umbra | Greatest Totality | Leave Umbra | Time Zone | Totality Duration |
| 1902 OCT 16-17 | 12:17 am | 02:03 am | 03:50 am | DST | 45 min |
| 1906 FEB 08-09 | 12:57 am | 02:47 am | 04:37 am | EST | 49 min |
| 1909 NOV 26-27 | 02:11 am | 03:54 am | 05:38 am | EST | 41 min |
| 1910 MAY 23-24 | 11:46 pm | 01:34 am | 03:22 am | DST | 25 min |
| 1910 NOV 17-18 | 05:44 pm | 06:39 pm | 08:58 pm | EST | 26 min |
| Total Lunar Eclipses: 1917 - 1949 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Through Midnight | Enter Umbra | Greatest Totality | Leave Umbra | Time Zone | Totality Duration |
| 1917 JAN 07-08 | 12:50 am | 02:44 am | 04:38 am | EST | 44 min |
| 1928 NOV 26-27 | 02:24 am | 04:01 am | 05:39 am | EST | 28 min |
| 1935 JUL 15-16 | 11:12 pm | 01:00 am | 02:47 am | DST | 50 min |
| 1945 DEC 18-19 | 07:38 pm | 09:20 pm | 11:03 pm | EST | 40 min |
| 1949 APR 12-13 | 10:28 pm | 12:11 am | 01:54 am | DST | 43 min |
| 1949 OCT 06-07 | 08:05 pm | 09:56 pm | 11:48 pm | EST | 37 min |
| Total Lunar Eclipses: 1950 - 1969 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Through Midnight | Enter Umbra | Greatest Totality | Leave Umbra | Time Zone | Totality Duration |
| 1950 SEP 25-26 | 10:31 pm | 12:17 am | 02:02 am | DST | 23 min |
| 1954 JAN 18-19 | 07:50 pm | 09:32 pm | 11:14 pm | EST | 15 min |
| 1956 NOV 17-18 | 12:03 am | 01:48 am | 03:33 am | EST | 40 min |
| 1964 JUN 24-25 | 07:09 pm | 09:06 pm | 11:03 pm | DST | 51 min |
| 1964 DEC 18-19 | 07:59 pm | 09:37 pm | 11:15 pm | EST | 30 min |
| 1968 APR 12-13 | 11:10 pm | 12:47 am | 02:25 am | DST | 25 min |
| Total Lunar Eclipses: 1970 - 1999 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Through Midnight | Enter Umbra | Greatest Totality | Leave Umbra | Time Zone | Totality Duration |
| 1971 FEB 09-10 | 12:52 am | 02:45 am | 04:37 am | EST | 41 min |
| 1975 MAY 24-25 | 12:00 am | 01:48 am | 03:36 am | DST | 45 min |
| 1989 AUG 16-17 | 09:21 pm | 11:08 pm | 12:56 am | DST | 48 min |
| 1993 NOV 28-29 | 11:40 pm | 01:26 am | 03:12 am | EST | 24 min |
| 1996 SEP 26-27 | 09:12 pm | 10:54 pm | 12:36 am | DST | 35 min |
| Total Lunar Eclipses: 2000 - 2009 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Through Midnight | Enter Umbra | Greatest Totality | Leave Umbra | Time Zone | Totality Duration |
| 2000 JAN 20-21 | 10:02 pm | 11:44 pm | 01:26 am | EST | 39 min |
| 2003 MAY 15-16 | 10:03 pm | 11:40 pm | 01:17 am | DST | 26 min |
| 2003 NOV 08-09 | 06:33 pm | 08:19 pm | 10:05 pm | EST | 12 min |
| 2004 OCT 27-28 | 09:14 pm | 11:04 pm | 12:54 am | DST | 41 min |
| 2007 AUG 27-28 | 04:51 am | 06:37 am | 08:24 am | DST | 45 min |
| 2008 FEB 20-21 | 08:43 pm | 10:26 pm | 12:09 am | EST | 25 min |
| Total Lunar Eclipses: 2010 - 2020 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date Through Midnight | Enter Umbra | Greatest Totality | Leave Umbra | Time Zone | Totality Duration |
| 2010 DEC 20-21 | 01:32 am | 03:17 am | 05:02 am | EST | 37 min |
| 2014 OCT 07-08 | 05:14 am | 06:55 am | 08:35 am | DST | 30 min |
| 2015 SEP 27-28 | 09:07 pm | 10:47 pm | 12:27 am | DST | 36 min |
| 2019 JAN 20-21 | 10:33 pm | 12:12 am | 01:51 am | EST | 31 min |