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Solar eclipse of October 1, 1940

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Solar eclipse of October 1, 1940
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma−0.2573
Magnitude1.0645
Maximum eclipse
Duration335 s (5 min 35 s)
Coordinates17°30′S 18°12′W / 17.5°S 18.2°W / -17.5; -18.2
Max. width of band218 km (135 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse12:44:06
References
Saros133 (41 of 72)
Catalog # (SE5000)9376

A total solar eclipse occurred on Tuesday, October 1, 1940. 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. Totality was visible from Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and South Africa.

Observation

Members of the Joint Solar Eclipses Standing Committee of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society made observations in Brazil with interferometers and spectrometers. Teams of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope (now combined into the South African Astronomical Observatory) went to Calvinia, South Africa to study the gravitational lens proposed by the general relativity. Other scientists went to the edge of the path of totality to study the spectral lines of the solar chromosphere. A joint team of the Heliophysical Observatory of the University of Cambridge and the Radcliffe Observatory in Pretoria, South Africa (now combined into the South African Astronomical Observatory) went to Nelspoort to study the extreme ultraviolet spectrum of the chromosphere and corona, and conducted polarization studies of the corona and sky around the sun[1].

Solar eclipses 1939–1942

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.[2]

The partial solar eclipse on August 12, 1942 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1939 to 1942
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
118 April 19, 1939

Annular
0.9388 123 October 12, 1939

Total
−0.9737
128 April 7, 1940

Annular
0.219 133 October 1, 1940

Total
−0.2573
138 March 27, 1941

Annular
−0.5025 143 September 21, 1941

Total
0.4649
148 March 16, 1942

Partial
−1.1908 153 September 10, 1942

Partial
1.2571

Saros 133

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 13, 1219. It contains annular eclipses from November 20, 1435 through January 13, 1526; a hybrid eclipse on January 24, 1544; and total eclipses from February 3, 1562 through June 21, 2373. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on September 5, 2499. 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 25 at 1 minutes, 14 seconds on November 30, 1453, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 61 at 6 minutes, 50 seconds on August 7, 1850. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[3]

Series members 34–55 occur between 1801 and 2200:
34 35 36

July 17, 1814

July 27, 1832

August 7, 1850
37 38 39

August 18, 1868

August 29, 1886

September 9, 1904
40 41 42

September 21, 1922

October 1, 1940

October 12, 1958
43 44 45

October 23, 1976

November 3, 1994

November 13, 2012
46 47 48

November 25, 2030

December 5, 2048

December 17, 2066
49 50 51

December 27, 2084

January 8, 2103

January 19, 2121
52 53 54

January 30, 2139

February 9, 2157

February 21, 2175
55

March 3, 2193

Metonic series

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).

Notes

  1. ^ Stratton, F. J. M. (1940). "Total Solar Eclipse of October 1, 1940". Nature. 145 (3662): 32. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 133". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References