Solar eclipse of April 18, 1931

Solar eclipse of April 18, 1931
Map
Type of eclipse
NaturePartial
Gamma1.2643
Magnitude0.5107
Maximum eclipse
Coordinates61°30′N 58°54′E / 61.5°N 58.9°E / 61.5; 58.9
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse0:45:35
References
Saros147 (18 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)9353

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, 1931,[1] with a magnitude of 0.5107. 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.

A partial eclipse was visible for parts of East Asia and North Asia.

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.[2]

April 18, 1931 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1931 April 17 at 22:57:48.0 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1931 April 18 at 00:45:34.6 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1931 April 18 at 00:59:58.6 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1931 April 18 at 01:59:51.2 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1931 April 18 at 02:32:47.7 UTC
April 18, 1931 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.51068
Eclipse Obscuration 0.39455
Gamma 1.26430
Sun Right Ascension 01h40m20.1s
Sun Declination +10°25'14.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'55.6"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 01h38m13.6s
Moon Declination +11°26'51.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter 14'54.6"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'43.2"
ΔT 24.0 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.

Eclipse season of April 1931
April 2
Descending node (full moon)
April 18
Ascending node (new moon)
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 121
Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 147

Eclipses in 1931

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 147

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1928–1931

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 eclipse on June 17, 1928 occurs in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on September 12, 1931 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1928 to 1931
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
117 May 19, 1928

Total (non-central)
1.0048 122 November 12, 1928

Partial
1.0861
127 May 9, 1929

Total
−0.2887 132 November 1, 1929

Annular
0.3514
137 April 28, 1930

Hybrid
0.473 142 October 21, 1930

Total
−0.3804
147 April 18, 1931

Partial
1.2643 152 October 11, 1931

Partial
−1.0607

Saros 147

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 147, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 12, 1624. It contains annular eclipses from May 31, 2003 through July 31, 2706. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 24, 3049. 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 will be produced by member 38 at 9 minutes, 41 seconds on November 21, 2291. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[4]

Series members 11–32 occur between 1801 and 2200:
11 12 13

January 30, 1805

February 11, 1823

February 21, 1841
14 15 16

March 4, 1859

March 15, 1877

March 26, 1895
17 18 19

April 6, 1913

April 18, 1931

April 28, 1949
20 21 22

May 9, 1967

May 19, 1985

May 31, 2003
23 24 25

June 10, 2021

June 21, 2039

July 1, 2057
26 27 28

July 13, 2075

July 23, 2093

August 4, 2111
29 30 31

August 15, 2129

August 26, 2147

September 5, 2165
32

September 16, 2183

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). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.

23 eclipse events between February 3, 1859 and June 29, 1946
February 1–3 November 21–22 September 8–10 June 28–29 April 16–18
109 111 113 115 117

February 3, 1859

November 21, 1862

June 28, 1870

April 16, 1874
119 121 123 125 127

February 2, 1878

November 21, 1881

September 8, 1885

June 28, 1889

April 16, 1893
129 131 133 135 137

February 1, 1897

November 22, 1900

September 9, 1904

June 28, 1908

April 17, 1912
139 141 143 145 147

February 3, 1916

November 22, 1919

September 10, 1923

June 29, 1927

April 18, 1931
149 151 153 155

February 3, 1935

November 21, 1938

September 10, 1942

June 29, 1946

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.

The partial solar eclipse on November 4, 2116 (part of Saros 164) is also a part of this series but is not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2029

March 24, 1811
(Saros 136)

February 21, 1822
(Saros 137)

January 20, 1833
(Saros 138)

December 21, 1843
(Saros 139)

November 20, 1854
(Saros 140)

October 19, 1865
(Saros 141)

September 17, 1876
(Saros 142)

August 19, 1887
(Saros 143)

July 18, 1898
(Saros 144)

June 17, 1909
(Saros 145)

May 18, 1920
(Saros 146)

April 18, 1931
(Saros 147)

March 16, 1942
(Saros 148)

February 14, 1953
(Saros 149)

January 14, 1964
(Saros 150)

December 13, 1974
(Saros 151)

November 12, 1985
(Saros 152)

October 12, 1996
(Saros 153)

September 11, 2007
(Saros 154)

August 11, 2018
(Saros 155)

July 11, 2029
(Saros 156)

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.

Series members between 1801 and 2200

July 6, 1815
(Saros 143)

June 16, 1844
(Saros 144)

May 26, 1873
(Saros 145)

May 7, 1902
(Saros 146)

April 18, 1931
(Saros 147)

March 27, 1960
(Saros 148)

March 7, 1989
(Saros 149)

February 15, 2018
(Saros 150)

January 26, 2047
(Saros 151)

January 6, 2076
(Saros 152)

December 17, 2104
(Saros 153)

November 26, 2133
(Saros 154)

November 7, 2162
(Saros 155)

October 18, 2191
(Saros 156)

Notes

  1. ^ "April 17–18, 1931 Partial Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Partial Solar Eclipse of 1931 Apr 18". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 147". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References