A partial lunar eclipse took place on Saturday, February 21, 1970. It was the first of two partial lunar eclipses in 1970, the other being on August 17 of the same year. A tiny bite out of the Moon may have been visible at maximum, though just 5% of the Moon was shadowed in a partial eclipse which lasted for 52 minutes and 42 seconds. A shading across the moon from the Earth's penumbral shadow should have been visible at maximum eclipse.

Occurring only 2.4 days after apogee (Apogee on Wednesday, February 18, 1970), the Moon's apparent diameter was 6% smaller than average. The Moon was only 404,163 km (251,135 mi) from the Earth's center.^[1]

Visibility

It was completely visible over eastern Asia, Australia, Pacific, Americas, western Europe, seen rising over northwestern Pacific Ocean and setting over the north Atlantic Ocean.

Relation to other lunar eclipses

Lunar year series

Lunar eclipse series sets from 1969–1973
Ascending node					Descending node
Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma		Saros	Date Viewing	Type Chart	Gamma
108	1969 Aug 27	Penumbral	−1.54066		113	1970 Feb 21	Partial	0.96198
118	1970 Aug 17	Partial	−0.80534		123	1971 Feb 10	Total	0.27413
128	1971 Aug 6	Total	−0.07944		133	1972 Jan 30	Total	−0.42729
138	1972 Jul 26	Partial	0.71167		143	1973 Jan 18	Penumbral	−1.08446
148	1973 Jul 15	Penumbral	1.51782
Last set	1969 Sep 25				Last set	1969 Apr 2
Next set	1973 Jun 15				Next set	1973 Dec 10

Metonic cycle

This is the third of five Metonic lunar eclipses.

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 lunar eclipse sets 1951–2027

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Date	Type		Saros	Date	Type
103	1951 Feb 21.88	Penumbral		108	1951 Aug 17.13	Penumbral
113	1970 Feb 21.35	Partial		118	1970 Aug 17.14	Partial
123	1989 Feb 20.64	Total		128	1989 Aug 17.13	Total
133	2008 Feb 21.14	Total		138	2008 Aug 16.88	Partial
143	2027 Feb 20.96	Penumbral		148	2027 Aug 17.30	Penumbral

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 total solar eclipses of Solar Saros 120.

February 15, 1961	February 26, 1979