Solar eclipse of May 20, 1947

Summary

A total solar eclipse occurred on May 20, 1947. 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 Chile including the capital city Santiago, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Liberia, French West Africa (the parts now belonging to Ivory Coast and Benin), British Gold Coast (today's Ghana) including capital Accra, French Togoland (today's Togo) including capital Lomé, British Nigeria (today's Nigeria) including capital Lagos, French Cameroons (now belonging to Cameroon), French Equatorial Africa (the parts now belonging to Central African Republic and R. Congo), Belgian Congo (today's DR Congo), British Uganda (today's Uganda), British Tanganyika (now belonging to Tanzania), and British Kenya (today's Kenya). The southern part of Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside Asia, and Iguazu Falls, one of the largest waterfalls systems in the world, lie in the path of totality.

Solar eclipse of May 20, 1947
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma−0.3528
Magnitude1.0557
Maximum eclipse
Duration313 s (5 min 13 s)
Coordinates0°12′N 21°24′W / 0.2°N 21.4°W / 0.2; -21.4
Max. width of band196 km (122 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse13:47:47
References
Saros127 (54 of 82)
Catalog # (SE5000)9392

Related eclipses edit

Solar eclipses 1946–1949 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.[1]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1946–1949
Ascending node   Descending node
117 1946 May 30
 
Partial
122 1946 November 23
 
Partial
127 1947 May 20
 
Total
132 1947 November 12
 
Annular
137 1948 May 9
 
Annular
142 1948 November 1
 
Total
147 1949 April 28
 
Partial
152 1949 October 21
 
Partial

Saros 127 edit

It is a part of Saros cycle 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 82 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on October 10, 991 AD. It contains total eclipses from May 14, 1352 through August 15, 2091. There are no annular eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 82 as a partial eclipse on March 21, 2452. The longest duration of totality was 5 minutes, 40 seconds on August 30, 1532. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.[2]

Series members 52–68 occur between 1901 and 2200
52 53 54
 
April 28, 1911
 
May 9, 1929
 
May 20, 1947 55 56 57  
May 30, 1965
 
June 11, 1983
 
June 21, 2001
58 59 60
 
July 2, 2019
 
July 13, 2037
 
July 24, 2055
61 62 63
 
August 3, 2073
 
August 15, 2091
August 26, 2109 (Partial)
64 65 66
September 6, 2127 (Partial September 16, 2145 (Partial) September 28, 2163 (Partial)
67 68
October 8, 2181 (Partial) October 19, 2199 (Partial)

Tritos series edit

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.

Metonic series edit

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 ascending node.

22 eclipse events between December 24, 1916 and July 31, 2000
December 24–25 October 12–13 July 31-Aug 1 May 18–20 March 7–8
91 93 95 97 99
December 23, 1878 October 12, 1882 July 31, 1886 May 18, 1890 March 7, 1894
101 103 105 107 109
December 23, 1897 October 12, 1901 August 1, 1905 May 19, 1909 March 8, 1913
111 113 115 117 119
 
December 24, 1916
October 12, 1920  
July 31, 1924
 
May 19, 1928
 
March 7, 1932
121 123 125 127 129
 
December 25, 1935
 
October 12, 1939
 
August 1, 1943
 
May 20, 1947  
March 7, 1951
131 133 135 137 139
 
December 25, 1954
 
October 12, 1958
 
July 31, 1962
 
May 20, 1966
 
March 7, 1970
141 143 145 147 149
 
December 24, 1973
 
October 12, 1977
 
July 31, 1981
 
May 19, 1985
 
March 7, 1989
151 153 155 157 159
 
December 24, 1992
 
October 12, 1996
 
July 31, 2000
May 19, 2004 March 7, 2008
161 163 165 167 169
December 24, 2011 October 13, 2015 August 1, 2019 May 19, 2023 March 8, 2027

References edit

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "Solar Saros series 127". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

External links edit

  • Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
    • Google interactive map
    • Besselian elements
  • Russia expedition for solar eclipse of May 20, 1947 Archived August 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine