Jump to content

Solar eclipse of December 23, 1908

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Solar eclipse of December 23, 1908
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureHybrid
Gamma−0.4985
Magnitude1.0024
Maximum eclipse
Duration12 s (0 min 12 s)
Coordinates53°24′S 0°30′W / 53.4°S 0.5°W / -53.4; -0.5
Max. width of band10 km (6.2 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse11:44:28
References
Saros140 (23 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9301

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, December 23, 1908,[1][2][3][4] with a magnitude of 1.0024. It was a hybrid event, with only a fraction of its path as total, and longer sections at the start and end as an annular eclipse. 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. Occurring about 3.1 days before perigee (on December 26, 1908, at 13:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[5]

Annularity was visible from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil, while totality was visible only from southern Atlantic Ocean with no land. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of northern South America, most of North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, North Africa, and Western Europe.

Eclipse details

[edit]

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.[6]

December 23, 1908 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1908 December 23 at 09:06:26.9 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1908 December 23 at 10:10:43.8 UTC
First Central Line 1908 December 23 at 10:11:10.4 UTC
Greatest Duration 1908 December 23 at 10:11:10.4 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1908 December 23 at 10:11:37.1 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1908 December 23 at 11:44:27.5 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1908 December 23 at 11:49:14.3 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1908 December 23 at 11:49:45.9 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1908 December 23 at 13:17:16.8 UTC
Last Central Line 1908 December 23 at 13:17:40.9 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1908 December 23 at 13:18:04.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1908 December 23 at 14:22:20.6 UTC
December 23, 1908 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.00243
Eclipse Obscuration 1.00486
Gamma –0.49845
Sun Right Ascension 18h05m35.3s
Sun Declination -23°26'42.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'15.7"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 18h05m23.9s
Moon Declination -23°55'54.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'04.3"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°58'59.0"
ΔT 9.1 s

Eclipse season

[edit]

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 December 1908
December 7
Ascending node (full moon)
December 23
Descending node (new moon)
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 114
Hybrid solar eclipse
Solar Saros 140
[edit]

Eclipses in 1908

[edit]

Metonic

[edit]

Tzolkinex

[edit]

Half-Saros

[edit]

Tritos

[edit]

Solar Saros 140

[edit]

Inex

[edit]

Triad

[edit]

Solar eclipses of 1906–1909

[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.[7]

The partial solar eclipses on February 23, 1906 and August 20, 1906 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1906 to 1909
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
115 July 21, 1906

Partial
−1.3637 120 January 14, 1907

Total
0.8628
125 July 10, 1907

Annular
−0.6313 130 January 3, 1908

Total
0.1934
135 June 28, 1908

Annular
0.1389 140 December 23, 1908

Hybrid
−0.4985
145 June 17, 1909

Hybrid
0.8957 150 December 12, 1909

Partial
−1.2456

Saros 140

[edit]

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 140, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 16, 1512. It contains total eclipses from July 21, 1656 through November 9, 1836; hybrid eclipses from November 20, 1854 through December 23, 1908; and annular eclipses from January 3, 1927 through December 7, 2485. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 1, 2774. 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 totality was produced by member 11 at 4 minutes, 10 seconds on August 12, 1692, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 53 at 7 minutes, 35 seconds on November 15, 2449. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[8]

Series members 18–39 occur between 1801 and 2200:
18 19 20

October 29, 1818

November 9, 1836

November 20, 1854
21 22 23

November 30, 1872

December 12, 1890

December 23, 1908
24 25 26

January 3, 1927

January 14, 1945

January 25, 1963
27 28 29

February 4, 1981

February 16, 1999

February 26, 2017
30 31 32

March 9, 2035

March 20, 2053

March 31, 2071
33 34 35

April 10, 2089

April 23, 2107

May 3, 2125
36 37 38

May 14, 2143

May 25, 2161

June 5, 2179
39

June 15, 2197

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 descending node.

22 eclipse events between March 5, 1848 and July 30, 1935
March 5–6 December 22–24 October 9–11 July 29–30 May 17–18
108 110 112 114 116

March 5, 1848

July 29, 1859

May 17, 1863
118 120 122 124 126

March 6, 1867

December 22, 1870

October 10, 1874

July 29, 1878

May 17, 1882
128 130 132 134 136

March 5, 1886

December 22, 1889

October 9, 1893

July 29, 1897

May 18, 1901
138 140 142 144 146

March 6, 1905

December 23, 1908

October 10, 1912

July 30, 1916

May 18, 1920
148 150 152 154

March 5, 1924

December 24, 1927

October 11, 1931

July 30, 1935

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.

The partial solar eclipses on December 7, 2170 (part of Saros 164) and November 7, 2181 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2105

September 28, 1810
(Saros 131)

August 27, 1821
(Saros 132)

July 27, 1832
(Saros 133)

June 27, 1843
(Saros 134)

May 26, 1854
(Saros 135)

April 25, 1865
(Saros 136)

March 25, 1876
(Saros 137)

February 22, 1887
(Saros 138)

January 22, 1898
(Saros 139)

December 23, 1908
(Saros 140)

November 22, 1919
(Saros 141)

October 21, 1930
(Saros 142)

September 21, 1941
(Saros 143)

August 20, 1952
(Saros 144)

July 20, 1963
(Saros 145)

June 20, 1974
(Saros 146)

May 19, 1985
(Saros 147)

April 17, 1996
(Saros 148)

March 19, 2007
(Saros 149)

February 15, 2018
(Saros 150)

January 14, 2029
(Saros 151)

December 15, 2039
(Saros 152)

November 14, 2050
(Saros 153)

October 13, 2061
(Saros 154)

September 12, 2072
(Saros 155)

August 13, 2083
(Saros 156)

July 12, 2094
(Saros 157)

June 12, 2105
(Saros 158)

Inex series

[edit]

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

February 21, 1822
(Saros 137)

February 1, 1851
(Saros 138)

January 11, 1880
(Saros 139)

December 23, 1908
(Saros 140)

December 2, 1937
(Saros 141)

November 12, 1966
(Saros 142)

October 24, 1995
(Saros 143)

October 2, 2024
(Saros 144)

September 12, 2053
(Saros 145)

August 24, 2082
(Saros 146)

August 4, 2111
(Saros 147)

July 14, 2140
(Saros 148)

June 25, 2169
(Saros 149)

June 4, 2198
(Saros 150)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "December 23, 1908 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  2. ^ "SAVANTS OBSERVE ECLIPSE". The Oshkosh Northwestern. Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 1908-12-23. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Sky sharps watch eclipse". The Portsmouth Star. Portsmouth, Virginia. 1908-12-23. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Scientists to view eclipse". The Pomona Progress. Pomona, California. 1908-12-23. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1908 Dec 23". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 140". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.