Solar eclipse of January 3, 1908

A total solar eclipse occurred on January 3, 1908. 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 Ebon Atoll in German New Guinea (now in Marshall Islands), British Western Pacific Territories (the part now belonging to Kiribati), Line Islands (now in Kiribati), Phoenix Islands (now in Kiribati) on January 4th (Saturday), and Costa Rica on January 3rd (Friday). The green line means eclipse begins or ends at sunrise or sunset. The magenta line means mid eclipse at sunrise or sunset, or northern or southern penumbra limits. The green point means eclipse obscuration of 50%. The blue line means umbral northern and southern limits.

Solar eclipse of January 3, 1908
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma0.1934
Magnitude1.0437
Maximum eclipse
Duration254 sec (4 m 14 s)
Coordinates11.8°S 145.1°W / -11.8; -145.1
Max. width of band149 km (93 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse21:45:22
References
Saros130 (46 of 73)
Catalog # (SE5000)9299

Observations

The eclipse was observed by astronomer William Wallace Campbell of Lick Observatory, viewed from Flint Island, Kiribati:[1]

Solar eclipses 1906–1909

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]

Saros 130

This eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 73 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 20, 1096. It contains total eclipses from April 5, 1475 through July 18, 2232. There are no annular eclipses in the series. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on October 25, 2394. The longest duration of totality was 6 minutes, 41 seconds on July 11, 1619. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.[3]

Inex series

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.

Notes

  1. Powerhouse Museum. "Solar Eclipse, Flint Island, Kiribati, 1908". Powerhouse Museum, Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  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. "Saros Series catalog of solar eclipses". NASA.

References

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