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Solar eclipse of April 8, 1959

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Solar eclipse of April 8, 1959
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma−0.4546
Magnitude0.9401
Maximum eclipse
Duration446 s (7 min 26 s)
Coordinates19°06′S 137°36′E / 19.1°S 137.6°E / -19.1; 137.6
Max. width of band247 km (153 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse3:24:08
References
Saros138 (28 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)9418

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, April 8, 1959,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9401. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 2.9 days after apogee (on April 10, 1959, at 23:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]

Annularity was visible from Australia, southeastern tip of Milne Bay Province in the Territory of Papua New Guinea (today's Papua New Guinea), British Solomon Islands (today's Solomon Islands), Gilbert and Ellice Islands (the part now belonging to Tuvalu), Tokelau, and Swains Island in American Samoa. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Australia, Antarctica, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.

Eclipse details

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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.[3]

April 8, 1959 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1959 April 08 at 00:27:28.0 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1959 April 08 at 01:36:33.3 UTC
First Central Line 1959 April 08 at 01:39:23.2 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1959 April 08 at 01:42:14.0 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1959 April 08 at 03:08:03.5 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1959 April 08 at 03:24:08.2 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1959 April 08 at 03:29:32.4 UTC
Greatest Duration 1959 April 08 at 03:30:28.4 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1959 April 08 at 05:06:13.3 UTC
Last Central Line 1959 April 08 at 05:09:05.4 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1959 April 08 at 05:11:56.5 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1959 April 08 at 06:20:59.2 UTC
April 8, 1959 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.94012
Eclipse Obscuration 0.88382
Gamma −0.45463
Sun Right Ascension 01h04m44.7s
Sun Declination +06°53'31.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'58.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 01h05m13.2s
Moon Declination +06°29'54.6"
Moon Semi-Diameter 14'49.0"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'22.5"
ΔT 32.8 s

Eclipse season

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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 March–April 1959
March 24
Ascending node (full moon)
April 8
Descending node (new moon)
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 112
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 138
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Eclipses in 1959

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Solar Saros 138

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1957–1960

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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.[4]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1957 to 1960
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
118 April 30, 1957

Annular (non-central)
0.9992 123 October 23, 1957

Total (non-central)
1.0022
128 April 19, 1958

Annular
0.275 133 October 12, 1958

Total
−0.2951
138 April 8, 1959

Annular
−0.4546 143 October 2, 1959

Total
0.4207
148 March 27, 1960

Partial
−1.1537 153 September 20, 1960

Partial
1.2057

Saros 138

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 138, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on June 6, 1472. It contains annular eclipses from August 31, 1598 through February 18, 2482; a hybrid eclipse on March 1, 2500; and total eclipses from March 12, 2518 through April 3, 2554. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on July 11, 2716. 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 annularity was produced by member 23 at 8 minutes, 2 seconds on February 11, 1869, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 61 at 56 seconds on April 3, 2554. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[5]

Series members 20–41 occur between 1801 and 2200:
20 21 22

January 10, 1815

January 20, 1833

February 1, 1851
23 24 25

February 11, 1869

February 22, 1887

March 6, 1905
26 27 28

March 17, 1923

March 27, 1941

April 8, 1959
29 30 31

April 18, 1977

April 29, 1995

May 10, 2013
32 33 34

May 21, 2031

May 31, 2049

June 11, 2067
35 36 37

June 22, 2085

July 4, 2103

July 14, 2121
38 39 40

July 25, 2139

August 5, 2157

August 16, 2175
41

August 26, 2193

Metonic series

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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

Tritos series

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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

June 16, 1806
(Saros 124)

May 16, 1817
(Saros 125)

April 14, 1828
(Saros 126)

March 15, 1839
(Saros 127)

February 12, 1850
(Saros 128)

January 11, 1861
(Saros 129)

December 12, 1871
(Saros 130)

November 10, 1882
(Saros 131)

October 9, 1893
(Saros 132)

September 9, 1904
(Saros 133)

August 10, 1915
(Saros 134)

July 9, 1926
(Saros 135)

June 8, 1937
(Saros 136)

May 9, 1948
(Saros 137)

April 8, 1959
(Saros 138)

March 7, 1970
(Saros 139)

February 4, 1981
(Saros 140)

January 4, 1992
(Saros 141)

December 4, 2002
(Saros 142)

November 3, 2013
(Saros 143)

October 2, 2024
(Saros 144)

September 2, 2035
(Saros 145)

August 2, 2046
(Saros 146)

July 1, 2057
(Saros 147)

May 31, 2068
(Saros 148)

May 1, 2079
(Saros 149)

March 31, 2090
(Saros 150)

February 28, 2101
(Saros 151)

January 29, 2112
(Saros 152)

December 28, 2122
(Saros 153)

November 26, 2133
(Saros 154)

October 26, 2144
(Saros 155)

September 26, 2155
(Saros 156)

August 25, 2166
(Saros 157)

July 25, 2177
(Saros 158)

June 24, 2188
(Saros 159)

May 24, 2199
(Saros 160)

Inex series

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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

July 17, 1814
(Saros 133)

June 27, 1843
(Saros 134)

June 6, 1872
(Saros 135)

May 18, 1901
(Saros 136)

April 28, 1930
(Saros 137)

April 8, 1959
(Saros 138)

March 18, 1988
(Saros 139)

February 26, 2017
(Saros 140)

February 5, 2046
(Saros 141)

January 16, 2075
(Saros 142)

December 29, 2103
(Saros 143)

December 7, 2132
(Saros 144)

November 17, 2161
(Saros 145)

October 29, 2190
(Saros 146)

Notes

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  1. ^ "April 8, 1959 Annular Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Annular Solar Eclipse of 1959 Apr 08". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 138". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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