Solar eclipse of December 12, 1909

Solar eclipse of December 12, 1909
Map
Type of eclipse
NaturePartial
Gamma−1.2456
Magnitude0.5424
Maximum eclipse
Coordinates65°S 86°E / 65°S 86°E / -65; 86
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse19:44:48
References
Saros150 (11 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9303

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, December 12, 1909,[1][2][3] with a magnitude of 0.5424. 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 event was visible as a partial solar eclipse across Antarctica and New Zealand.

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.[4]

December 12, 1909 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1909 December 12 at 17:56:19.6 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1909 December 12 at 19:44:48.1 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1909 December 12 at 19:58:40.0 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1909 December 12 at 20:09:23.5 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1909 December 12 at 21:33:01.1 UTC
December 12, 1909 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.54243
Eclipse Obscuration 0.42921
Gamma –1.24559
Sun Right Ascension 17h17m14.6s
Sun Declination -23°05'16.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'14.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 17h16m22.9s
Moon Declination -24°13'34.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'12.2"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°55'47.8"
ΔT 10.4 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 November–December 1909
November 27
Ascending node (full moon)
December 12
Descending node (new moon)
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 124
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 150

Eclipses in 1909

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 150

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1906–1909

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.[5]

The partial solar eclipses on February 23, 1906 and August 20, 1906 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1906 to 1909
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
115 July 21, 1906

Partial
−1.3637 120 January 14, 1907

Total
0.8628
125 July 10, 1907

Annular
−0.6313 130 January 3, 1908

Total
0.1934
135 June 28, 1908

Annular
0.1389 140 December 23, 1908

Hybrid
−0.4985
145 June 17, 1909

Hybrid
0.8957 150 December 12, 1909

Partial
−1.2456

Saros 150

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 150, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 24, 1729. It contains annular eclipses from April 22, 2126 through June 22, 2829. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 29, 2991. 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 45 at 9 minutes, 58 seconds on December 19, 2522. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[6]

Series members 5–27 occur between 1801 and 2200:
5 6 7

October 7, 1801

October 19, 1819

October 29, 1837
8 9 10

November 9, 1855

November 20, 1873

December 1, 1891
11 12 13

December 12, 1909

December 24, 1927

January 3, 1946
14 15 16

January 14, 1964

January 25, 1982

February 5, 2000
17 18 19

February 15, 2018

February 27, 2036

March 9, 2054
20 21 22

March 19, 2072

March 31, 2090

April 11, 2108
23 24 25

April 22, 2126

May 3, 2144

May 14, 2162
26 27

May 24, 2180

June 4, 2198

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 descending node.

22 eclipse events between February 23, 1830 and July 19, 1917
February 22–23 December 11–12 September 29–30 July 18–19 May 6–7
108 110 112 114 116

February 23, 1830

July 18, 1841

May 6, 1845
118 120 122 124 126

February 23, 1849

December 11, 1852

September 29, 1856

July 18, 1860

May 6, 1864
128 130 132 134 136

February 23, 1868

December 12, 1871

September 29, 1875

July 19, 1879

May 6, 1883
138 140 142 144 146

February 22, 1887

December 12, 1890

September 29, 1894

July 18, 1898

May 7, 1902
148 150 152 154

February 23, 1906

December 12, 1909

September 30, 1913

July 19, 1917

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.

Series members between 1801 and 1964

September 17, 1811
(Saros 141)

August 16, 1822
(Saros 142)

July 17, 1833
(Saros 143)

June 16, 1844
(Saros 144)

May 16, 1855
(Saros 145)

April 15, 1866
(Saros 146)

March 15, 1877
(Saros 147)

February 11, 1888
(Saros 148)

January 11, 1899
(Saros 149)

December 12, 1909
(Saros 150)

November 10, 1920
(Saros 151)

October 11, 1931
(Saros 152)

September 10, 1942
(Saros 153)

August 9, 1953
(Saros 154)

July 9, 1964
(Saros 155)

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

February 11, 1823
(Saros 147)

January 21, 1852
(Saros 148)

December 31, 1880
(Saros 149)

December 12, 1909
(Saros 150)

November 21, 1938
(Saros 151)

November 2, 1967
(Saros 152)

October 12, 1996
(Saros 153)

September 21, 2025
(Saros 154)

September 2, 2054
(Saros 155)

August 13, 2083
(Saros 156)

July 23, 2112
(Saros 157)

July 3, 2141
(Saros 158)

June 14, 2170
(Saros 159)

May 24, 2199
(Saros 160)

References

  1. ^ "December 12, 1909 Partial Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Partial eclipse of the sun". Columbia Missourian. Columbia, Missouri. 1909-12-13. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Eclipse of the Sun". Whittier Daily News. Whittier, California. 1909-12-13. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-11-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Partial Solar Eclipse of 1909 Dec 12". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 150". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.