Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948
20th-century annular solar eclipse / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, May 9, 1948, with a magnitude of 0.9999. 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. Annularity was visible from Car Nicobar, the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands, and Burma, Siam (now renamed to Thailand) including Bangkok, French Indochina (the part now belonging to Laos), North Vietnam (now belonging to Vietnam), China, South Korea, Rebun Island in Japan, Kuril Islands in the Soviet Union (now belonging to Russia) on May 9, and Alaska on May 8. It was the first central solar eclipse visible from Bangkok from 1948 to 1958, where it is rare for a large city to witness 4 central solar eclipses in 10 years. The moon's apparent diameter was only 0.006% smaller than the Sun's, so this was an annular solar eclipse that occurred on May 9, 1948. Occurring 7.1 days after apogee (on May 2, 1948) and 6.6 days before perigee (Perigee on May 15, 1948), the Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter.
Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948 | |
---|---|
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Annular |
Gamma | 0.4133 |
Magnitude | 0.9999 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 0 s (0 min 0 s) |
Coordinates | 39.8°N 131.2°E / 39.8; 131.2 |
Times (UTC) | |
Greatest eclipse | 2:26:04 |
References | |
Saros | 137 (32 of 70) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9394 |
The path width of the large annular solar eclipse of May 9, 1948, was about 200 meters and lasted only 0.3 seconds. A large annular eclipse covered over 99% of the Sun, creating a dramatic spectacle for observers in only an extremely narrow strip; however, it was fleeting, lasting just moments at the point of maximum eclipse.