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Solar eclipse of December 2, 1956

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Solar eclipse of December 2, 1956
Map
Type of eclipse
NaturePartial
Gamma1.0923
Magnitude0.8047
Maximum eclipse
Coordinates67°54′N 64°36′E / 67.9°N 64.6°E / 67.9; 64.6
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse8:00:35
References
Saros151 (11 of 72)
Catalog # (SE5000)9413

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, December 2, 1956,[1] with a magnitude of 0.8047. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.

A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Europe, Northeast Africa, and Asia.

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.[2]

December 2, 1956 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1956 December 02 at 05:52:09.3 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1956 December 02 at 07:54:38.5 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1956 December 02 at 08:00:35.0 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1956 December 02 at 08:13:02.5 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1956 December 02 at 10:09:08.8 UTC
December 2, 1956 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.80468
Eclipse Obscuration 0.73350
Gamma 1.09229
Sun Right Ascension 16h34m00.8s
Sun Declination -21°58'22.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'13.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 16h34m13.1s
Moon Declination -20°57'44.2"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'10.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°55'43.2"
ΔT 31.7 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 November–December 1956
November 18
Descending node (full moon)
December 2
Ascending node (new moon)
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 125
Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 151
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Eclipses in 1956

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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 151

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1953–1956

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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.[3]

The partial solar eclipses on February 14, 1953 and August 9, 1953 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1953 to 1956
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
116 July 11, 1953

Partial
1.4388 121 January 5, 1954

Annular
−0.9296
126 June 30, 1954

Total
0.6135 131 December 25, 1954

Annular
−0.2576
136 June 20, 1955

Total
−0.1528 141 December 14, 1955

Annular
0.4266
146 June 8, 1956

Total
−0.8934 151 December 2, 1956

Partial
1.0923

Saros 151

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 151, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 14, 1776. It contains annular eclipses from February 28, 2101 through April 23, 2191; a hybrid eclipse on May 5, 2209; and total eclipses from May 16, 2227 through July 6, 2912. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on October 1, 3056. 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 will be produced by member 19 at 2 minutes, 44 seconds on February 28, 2101, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 60 at 5 minutes, 41 seconds on May 22, 2840. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[4]

Series members 3–24 occur between 1801 and 2200:
3 4 5

September 5, 1812

September 17, 1830

September 27, 1848
6 7 8

October 8, 1866

October 19, 1884

October 31, 1902
9 10 11

November 10, 1920

November 21, 1938

December 2, 1956
12 13 14

December 13, 1974

December 24, 1992

January 4, 2011
15 16 17

January 14, 2029

January 26, 2047

February 5, 2065
18 19 20

February 16, 2083

February 28, 2101

March 11, 2119
21 22 23

March 21, 2137

April 2, 2155

April 12, 2173
24

April 23, 2191

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 ascending node.

22 eclipse events between December 2, 1880 and July 9, 1964
December 2–3 September 20–21 July 9–10 April 26–28 February 13–14
111 113 115 117 119

December 2, 1880

July 9, 1888

April 26, 1892

February 13, 1896
121 123 125 127 129

December 3, 1899

September 21, 1903

July 10, 1907

April 28, 1911

February 14, 1915
131 133 135 137 139

December 3, 1918

September 21, 1922

July 9, 1926

April 28, 1930

February 14, 1934
141 143 145 147 149

December 2, 1937

September 21, 1941

July 9, 1945

April 28, 1949

February 14, 1953
151 153 155

December 2, 1956

September 20, 1960

July 9, 1964

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.

The partial solar eclipse on October 24, 2098 (part of Saros 164) is also a part of this series but is not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2011

February 11, 1804
(Saros 137)

January 10, 1815
(Saros 138)

December 9, 1825
(Saros 139)

November 9, 1836
(Saros 140)

October 9, 1847
(Saros 141)

September 7, 1858
(Saros 142)

August 7, 1869
(Saros 143)

July 7, 1880
(Saros 144)

June 6, 1891
(Saros 145)

May 7, 1902
(Saros 146)

April 6, 1913
(Saros 147)

March 5, 1924
(Saros 148)

February 3, 1935
(Saros 149)

January 3, 1946
(Saros 150)

December 2, 1956
(Saros 151)

November 2, 1967
(Saros 152)

October 2, 1978
(Saros 153)

August 31, 1989
(Saros 154)

July 31, 2000
(Saros 155)

July 1, 2011
(Saros 156)

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

March 13, 1812
(Saros 146)

February 21, 1841
(Saros 147)

January 31, 1870
(Saros 148)

January 11, 1899
(Saros 149)

December 24, 1927
(Saros 150)

December 2, 1956
(Saros 151)

November 12, 1985
(Saros 152)

October 23, 2014
(Saros 153)

October 3, 2043
(Saros 154)

September 12, 2072
(Saros 155)

August 24, 2101
(Saros 156)

August 4, 2130
(Saros 157)

July 15, 2159
(Saros 158)

June 24, 2188
(Saros 159)

References

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  1. ^ "December 2, 1956 Partial Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Partial Solar Eclipse of 1956 Dec 02". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 151". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.