An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Thursday, December 2 and Friday, December 3, 1937,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9184. 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 only about 18 hours before apogee (on December 3, 1937, at 16:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]
The duration of annularity at maximum eclipse (closest to but slightly shorter than the longest duration) was 12 minutes, 0.33 seconds in the Pacific Ocean. It was the longest annular solar eclipse since December 25, 1628, but the Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955 lasted longer.[3]
Annularity was visible from Ogasawara, Tokyo and South Seas Mandate (the part now belonging to Marshall Islands) in Japan, and Gilbert and Ellice Islands (the part now belonging to Kiribati). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of East Asia, northern Oceania, Hawaii, and western North America.
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]
First Penumbral External Contact | 1937 December 02 at 20:05:29.6 UTC | |
First Umbral External Contact | 1937 December 02 at 21:14:57.2 UTC | |
First Central Line | 1937 December 02 at 21:18:43.1 UTC | |
First Umbral Internal Contact | 1937 December 02 at 21:22:30.7 UTC | |
Equatorial Conjunction | 1937 December 02 at 23:03:27.6 UTC | |
Greatest Eclipse | 1937 December 02 at 23:05:45.1 UTC | |
Greatest Duration | 1937 December 02 at 23:07:42.3 UTC | |
Ecliptic Conjunction | 1937 December 02 at 23:11:03.1 UTC | |
Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1937 December 03 at 00:49:00.8 UTC | |
Last Central Line | 1937 December 03 at 00:52:48.8 UTC | |
Last Umbral External Contact | 1937 December 03 at 00:56:35.2 UTC | |
Last Penumbral External Contact | 1937 December 03 at 02:06:02.7 UTC |
Eclipse Magnitude | 0.91842 | |
Eclipse Obscuration | 0.84349 | |
Gamma | 0.43886 | |
Sun Right Ascension | 16h35m02.2s | |
Sun Declination | -22°00'36.6" | |
Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'13.6" | |
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
Moon Right Ascension | 16h35m06.6s | |
Moon Declination | -21°37'01.0" | |
Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'42.2" | |
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°53'57.6" | |
ΔT | 24.0 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. 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.