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Solar eclipse of April 17, 1912

Total eclipse


Summary

Total eclipse

FieldValue
previousSolar eclipse of October 22, 1911
nextSolar eclipse of October 10, 1912

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, April 17, 1912,{{Cite news | access-date = 2023-11-04 | access-date = 2023-11-04

Annularity was first visible from southeastern tip of Venezuela, northern tip of Brazil, British Guyana (today's Guyana), Dutch Guiana (today's Suriname) and Porto Santo Island in Madeira, Portugal, then totality from Portugal and Spain, with annularity continuing northeast across France (including northwestern suburbs of Paris), Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Russian Empire (the parts now belonging to northern Latvia, southern Estonia and Russia). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of eastern South America, eastern North America, West Africa, Europe, and West Asia.

It was the 30th eclipse of the 137th Saros cycle, which began with a partial eclipse on May 25, 1389, and will conclude with a partial eclipse on June 28, 2633. This eclipse occurred two days after the RMS Titanic sank in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean under the darkness of new moon.

Observations

[[File:EclipseBrasilPortugal1May1912.jpg250px]]
The 1 May 1912 edition of the luso-Brazilian Brasil-Portugal magazine publishes photographs of the eclipse, as it was seen in Lisbon. An editorial says: "One can tell, on that moment, the mathematical regularity that presides over everything that goes on above and the considerable achievements that the oldest of sciences — Astronomy — has been meeting. While some, strong spirits, point out the fact and point out how precise are scientific calculi, the others, believers, consider that what we can grasp is still too little and, not being able to conceive a Creation without a Creator, pay homage to science but continue to kneel before God. The reader can judge the interest that the phenomenon sparked among us by himself though the photographs that follow, where one can see it all; the wise and the godless, the noble and the commoners, women and men, everyone paid no attention to earthly matters and, for a moment, observed with better or worse instruments what was going on up above. It was even a momentaneous rest for politics."

During a hybrid solar eclipse, the apex of the moon's umbral cone was very close to the Earth's surface, and the magnitude was very large. The edges of the moon and the sun were very close to each other as seen from the Earth in both the total and annular portion of the path. A series of Baily's beads on the lunar limb provided an excellent opportunity to measure the size and shape of the Earth, as well as the mountains and valleys on the lunar limb. Measurements were made in Europe to locate precisely the limits of the umbral shadow by spreading people every 100 metres along a straight road.

The hybrid solar eclipse of April 28, 1930, also belonging to Solar Saros 137, also occurred with a magnitude close to 1. Similar observations were made near Camptonville, California. Such observations were also made during two later annular solar eclipses of May 9, 1948 in Rebun Island, Japan and May 20, 1966 in Greece and Turkey, also belonging to the same solar Saros cycle. Similar measurements were also done in New York City during the total solar eclipse of January 24, 1925, which did not belong to the same Saros cycle 137 had a magnitude much larger than 1.

Eclipse details

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.

EventTime (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact1912 April 17 at 08:53:53.3 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1912 April 17 at 10:00:21.2 UTC
First Central Line1912 April 17 at 10:00:52.4 UTC
Greatest Duration1912 April 17 at 10:00:52.4 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1912 April 17 at 10:01:23.5 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1912 April 17 at 11:34:21.9 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1912 April 17 at 11:40:06.1 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1912 April 17 at 12:03:39.6 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1912 April 17 at 13:07:04.3 UTC
Last Central Line1912 April 17 at 13:07:32.6 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1912 April 17 at 13:08:00.8 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1912 April 17 at 14:14:32.4 UTC
ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude1.00032
Eclipse Obscuration1.00064
Gamma0.52797
Sun Right Ascension01h40m32.0s
Sun Declination+10°26'25.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'55.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension01h39m36.3s
Moon Declination+10°53'32.1"
Moon Semi-Diameter15'42.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°57'40.6"
ΔT13.7 s

Eclipse season

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.

April 1
Descending node (full moon)April 17
Ascending node (new moon)
[[File:Lunar eclipse chart close-1912Apr01.png200px]][[File:SE1912Apr17H.png200px]]
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 111Hybrid solar eclipse
Solar Saros 137

Notes

References

References

  1. "April 17, 1912 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate.
  2. "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate.
  3. [http://www.astronomeer.com/eclipses/index.html www.astronomeer.com: The "Titanic" eclipse of 17 April 1912] {{Webarchive. link. (7 January 2009 ''The last annular eclipse in the Netherlands was 17 April 1912, just two days after the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.'')
  4. [http://www.eclipse-chasers.com/tsebyAir.html] {{Webarchive. link. (2009-05-30 Societe Astronomique, pp. 234–248, 1912 – By Camille Flammarion (Translation from French by LRM) p. 240 "A balloon dirigible, having on board Admiral Fournier and Colonel Bourgeois permitted good perception of the moon's shadow at a speed of 800 m/sec ... From a captive balloon near Saint-Nom-de-la-Breteche, Captain Dupic made analogous observations which confirmed those made from the dirigible.")
  5. link. (2011-07-16)
  6. Xavier M. Jubier. "Eclipse hybride de Soleil du 17 avril 1912 en Europe (Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1912 April 17 over Europe)".
  7. "Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1912 Apr 17". EclipseWise.com.
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