Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948

Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma0.4133
Magnitude0.9999
Maximum eclipse
Duration0 sec (0 m 0 s)
Coordinates39°48′N 131°12′E / 39.8°N 131.2°E / 39.8; 131.2
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse2:26:04
References
Saros137 (32 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)9394

An annular solar eclipse occurred on May 9, 1948. 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, 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 just 9.945 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 (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.

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.

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 1946–1949

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.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1946–1949
Ascending node   Descending node
117 1946 May 30

Partial
122 1946 November 23

Partial
127 1947 May 20

Total
132 1947 November 12

Annular
137 1948 May 9

Annular
142 1948 November 1

Total
147 1949 April 28

Partial
152 1949 October 21

Partial

Saros 137

It is a part of Saros cycle 137, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 25, 1389. It contains total eclipses from August 20, 1533, through December 6, 1695, first set of hybrid eclipses from December 17, 1713, through February 11, 1804, first set of annular eclipses from February 21, 1822, through March 25, 1876, second set of hybrid eclipses from April 6, 1894, through April 28, 1930, and second set of annular eclipses from May 9, 1948, through April 13, 2507. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 28, 2633. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 55 seconds on September 10, 1569. Solar Saros 137 has 55 umbral eclipses from August 20, 1533, through April 13, 2507 (973.62 years).

Inex series

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.

Tritos series

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.

Metonic series

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).


This page was last updated at 2023-12-09 03:08 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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