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20th-century partial solar eclipse From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, May 30, 1946,[1] with a magnitude of 0.8865. 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.
This was the second of four partial solar eclipses in 1946, with the others occurring on January 3, June 29, and November 23.
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of eastern Oceania and western South America.
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]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1946 May 30 at 19:08:19.4 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1946 May 30 at 20:32:06.1 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1946 May 30 at 20:49:47.0 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1946 May 30 at 21:00:23.7 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1946 May 30 at 22:52:40.4 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.88652 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.86992 |
| Gamma | −1.07105 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 04h28m24.9s |
| Sun Declination | +21°46'41.4" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'46.4" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 04h29m34.6s |
| Moon Declination | +20°43'10.9" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'43.0" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'21.2" |
| ΔT | 27.5 s |
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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
| May 30 Ascending node (new moon) | June 14 Descending node (full moon) | June 29 Ascending node (new moon) |
|---|---|---|
|  |  |
| Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 117 | Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 129 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 155 |
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 January 3, 1946 and June 29, 1946 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1946 to 1949 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 | May 30, 1946 Partial |
−1.0711 | 122 | November 23, 1946 Partial |
1.105 | |
| 127 | May 20, 1947 Total |
−0.3528 | 132 | November 12, 1947 Annular |
0.3743 | |
| 137 | May 9, 1948 Annular |
0.4133 | 142 | November 1, 1948 Total |
−0.3517 | |
| 147 | April 28, 1949 Partial |
1.2068 | 152 | October 21, 1949 Partial |
−1.027 | |
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 117, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on June 24, 792 AD. It contains annular eclipses from September 18, 936 AD through May 14, 1333; hybrid eclipses from May 25, 1351 through July 8, 1423; and total eclipses from July 18, 1441 through May 19, 1928. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on August 3, 2054. 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 was produced by member 16 at 9 minutes, 26 seconds on December 3, 1062, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 62 at 4 minutes, 19 seconds on April 26, 1892. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[4]
| Series members 57–71 occur between 1801 and 2054: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 57 | 58 | 59 |
 March 4, 1802 |
 March 14, 1820 |
 March 25, 1838 |
| 60 | 61 | 62 |
 April 5, 1856 |
 April 16, 1874 |
 April 26, 1892 |
| 63 | 64 | 65 |
 May 9, 1910 |
 May 19, 1928 |
May 30, 1946 |
| 66 | 67 | 68 |
 June 10, 1964 |
 June 21, 1982 |
 July 1, 2000 |
| 69 | 70 | 71 |
 July 13, 2018 |
 July 23, 2036 |
 August 3, 2054 |
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 January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 4–5 | October 23–24 | August 10–12 | May 30–31 | March 18–19 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
 January 5, 1935 |
 August 12, 1942 |
May 30, 1946 |
 March 18, 1950 | |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
 January 5, 1954 |
 October 23, 1957 |
 August 11, 1961 |
 May 30, 1965 |
 March 18, 1969 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
 January 4, 1973 |
 October 23, 1976 |
 August 10, 1980 |
 May 30, 1984 |
 March 18, 1988 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
 January 4, 1992 |
 October 24, 1995 |
 August 11, 1999 |
 May 31, 2003 |
 March 19, 2007 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 | ||
 January 4, 2011 |
 October 23, 2014 |
 August 11, 2018 | ||
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.
| Series members between 1837 and 2200 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 April 5, 1837 (Saros 107) |
 March 5, 1848 (Saros 108) |
 February 3, 1859 (Saros 109) |
 December 2, 1880 (Saros 111) | |
 August 31, 1913 (Saros 114) |
 July 31, 1924 (Saros 115) |
 June 30, 1935 (Saros 116) | ||
May 30, 1946 (Saros 117) |
 April 30, 1957 (Saros 118) |
 March 28, 1968 (Saros 119) |
 February 26, 1979 (Saros 120) |
 January 26, 1990 (Saros 121) |
 December 25, 2000 (Saros 122) |
 November 25, 2011 (Saros 123) |
 October 25, 2022 (Saros 124) |
 September 23, 2033 (Saros 125) |
 August 23, 2044 (Saros 126) |
 July 24, 2055 (Saros 127) |
 June 22, 2066 (Saros 128) |
 May 22, 2077 (Saros 129) |
 April 21, 2088 (Saros 130) |
 March 21, 2099 (Saros 131) |
 February 18, 2110 (Saros 132) |
 January 19, 2121 (Saros 133) |
 December 19, 2131 (Saros 134) |
 November 17, 2142 (Saros 135) |
 October 17, 2153 (Saros 136) |
 September 16, 2164 (Saros 137) |
 August 16, 2175 (Saros 138) |
 July 16, 2186 (Saros 139) |
 June 15, 2197 (Saros 140) | |
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 September 8, 1801 (Saros 112) |
 August 18, 1830 (Saros 113) |
 July 29, 1859 (Saros 114) |
 July 9, 1888 (Saros 115) |
 June 19, 1917 (Saros 116) |
May 30, 1946 (Saros 117) |
 May 11, 1975 (Saros 118) |
 April 19, 2004 (Saros 119) |
 March 30, 2033 (Saros 120) |
 March 11, 2062 (Saros 121) |
 February 18, 2091 (Saros 122) |
 January 30, 2120 (Saros 123) |
 January 9, 2149 (Saros 124) |
 December 20, 2177 (Saros 125) |
|
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