Solar eclipse of January 25, 1944 (original) (raw)

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Total eclipse

Solar eclipse of January 25, 1944

Total eclipse
Map
Gamma 0.2025
Magnitude 1.0428
Maximum eclipse
Duration 249 s (4 min 9 s)
Coordinates 7°36′S 50°12′W / 7.6°S 50.2°W / -7.6; -50.2
Max. width of band 146 km (91 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse 15:26:42
References
Saros 130 (48 of 73)
Catalog # (SE5000) 9384
← August 1, 1943July 20, 1944 →

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, January 25, 1944,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0428. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 20 hours before perigee (on January 26, 1944, at 11:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

Totality was visible from Peru, Brazil, British Sierra Leone (today's Sierra Leone), and French West Africa (the parts now belonging to Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, including Guinean capital Conakry). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern North America, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Western Europe, West Africa, and Central Africa.

The National Astronomical Observatory in Tacubaya, Mexico sent a team to Chiclayo, Peru. The weather was clear during the eclipse, and because totality occurred shortly after sunrise with a relatively low solar zenith angle, the boundary between the corona and the background of the sky was not so obvious. Most images were taken successfully except for one with the long focus camera.[3]

Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[4]

January 25, 1944 Solar Eclipse Times

Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1944 January 25 at 12:48:43.4 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1944 January 25 at 13:44:39.3 UTC
First Central Line 1944 January 25 at 13:45:20.7 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1944 January 25 at 13:46:02.2 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact 1944 January 25 at 14:43:56.2 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1944 January 25 at 15:24:37.3 UTC
Greatest Duration 1944 January 25 at 15:25:00.3 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1944 January 25 at 15:26:42.2 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1944 January 25 at 15:29:42.0 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1944 January 25 at 16:09:24.1 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1944 January 25 at 17:07:18.8 UTC
Last Central Line 1944 January 25 at 17:08:01.3 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1944 January 25 at 17:08:43.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1944 January 25 at 18:04:37.4 UTC

January 25, 1944 Solar Eclipse Parameters

Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.04282
Eclipse Obscuration 1.08747
Gamma 0.20246
Sun Right Ascension 20h27m33.6s
Sun Declination -19°07'44.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'14.7"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 20h27m26.2s
Moon Declination -18°55'30.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'39.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'08.4"
ΔT 26.3 s

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.

Eclipse season of January–February 1944

January 25Descending node (new moon) February 9Ascending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 130 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 142

Solar eclipses of 1942–1946

[edit]

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[5]

The partial solar eclipses on March 16, 1942 and September 10, 1942 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipses on May 30, 1946 and November 23, 1946 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1942 to 1946
Ascending node Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
115 August 12, 1942Partial −1.5244 120 February 4, 1943Total 0.8734
125 August 1, 1943Annular −0.8041 130 January 25, 1944Total 0.2025
135 July 20, 1944Annular −0.0314 140 January 14, 1945Annular −0.4937
145 July 9, 1945Total 0.7356 150 January 3, 1946Partial −1.2392
155 June 29, 1946Partial 1.4361

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 20, 1096. It contains total eclipses from April 5, 1475 through July 18, 2232. There are no annular or hybrid eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on October 25, 2394. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 30 at 6 minutes, 41 seconds on July 11, 1619. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[6]

Series members 41–62 occur between 1801 and 2200:
41 42 43
November 9, 1817 November 20, 1835 November 30, 1853
44 45 46
December 12, 1871 December 22, 1889 January 3, 1908
47 48 49
January 14, 1926 January 25, 1944 February 5, 1962
50 51 52
February 16, 1980 February 26, 1998 March 9, 2016
53 54 55
March 20, 2034 March 30, 2052 April 11, 2070
56 57 58
April 21, 2088 May 3, 2106 May 14, 2124
59 60 61
May 25, 2142 June 4, 2160 June 16, 2178
62
June 26, 2196

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.

22 eclipse events between April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989
April 7–8 January 24–25 November 12 August 31–September 1 June 19–20
108 110 112 114 116
April 8, 1902 August 31, 1913 June 19, 1917
118 120 122 124 126
April 8, 1921 January 24, 1925 November 12, 1928 August 31, 1932 June 19, 1936
128 130 132 134 136
April 7, 1940 January 25, 1944 November 12, 1947 September 1, 1951 June 20, 1955
138 140 142 144 146
April 8, 1959 January 25, 1963 November 12, 1966 August 31, 1970 June 20, 1974
148 150 152 154
April 7, 1978 January 25, 1982 November 12, 1985 August 31, 1989

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
March 4, 1802(Saros 117) February 1, 1813(Saros 118) January 1, 1824(Saros 119) November 30, 1834(Saros 120) October 30, 1845(Saros 121)
September 29, 1856(Saros 122) August 29, 1867(Saros 123) July 29, 1878(Saros 124) June 28, 1889(Saros 125) May 28, 1900(Saros 126)
April 28, 1911(Saros 127) March 28, 1922(Saros 128) February 24, 1933(Saros 129) January 25, 1944(Saros 130) December 25, 1954(Saros 131)
November 23, 1965(Saros 132) October 23, 1976(Saros 133) September 23, 1987(Saros 134) August 22, 1998(Saros 135) July 22, 2009(Saros 136)
June 21, 2020(Saros 137) May 21, 2031(Saros 138) April 20, 2042(Saros 139) March 20, 2053(Saros 140) February 17, 2064(Saros 141)
January 16, 2075(Saros 142) December 16, 2085(Saros 143) November 15, 2096(Saros 144) October 16, 2107(Saros 145) September 15, 2118(Saros 146)
August 15, 2129(Saros 147) July 14, 2140(Saros 148) June 14, 2151(Saros 149) May 14, 2162(Saros 150) April 12, 2173(Saros 151)
March 12, 2184(Saros 152) February 10, 2195(Saros 153)

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
April 14, 1828(Saros 126) March 25, 1857(Saros 127) March 5, 1886(Saros 128)
February 14, 1915(Saros 129) January 25, 1944(Saros 130) January 4, 1973(Saros 131)
December 14, 2001(Saros 132) November 25, 2030(Saros 133) November 5, 2059(Saros 134)
October 14, 2088(Saros 135) September 26, 2117(Saros 136) September 6, 2146(Saros 137)
August 16, 2175(Saros 138)
  1. ^ "January 25, 1944 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  3. ^ Harlow Shapley (1944). "Total Solar Eclipse of January 25, 1944". Popular Astronomy. 52: 107. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019.
  4. ^ "Total Solar Eclipse of 1944 Jan 25". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  5. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  6. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 130". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.