Solar eclipse of June 8, 1937

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Tuesday, June 8 and Wednesday, June 9, 1937,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0751. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 16 hours after perigee (on June 8, 1937, at 4:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

Solar eclipse of June 8, 1937
The solar eclipse as viewed from Kanton Island.
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma−0.2253
Magnitude1.0751
Maximum eclipse
Duration424 s (7 min 4 s)
Coordinates9°54′N 130°30′W / 9.9°N 130.5°W / 9.9; -130.5
Max. width of band250 km (160 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse20:41:02
References
Saros136 (33 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9369

With a maximum eclipse of 7 minutes and 4.06 seconds, this was the longest total solar eclipse since July 1, 1098, which lasted 7 minutes and 5.34 seconds. A longer total solar eclipse occurred on June 20, 1955.[3][4][5][6][7]

The path of totality crossed the Pacific Ocean starting in Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now belonging to Tuvalu and Kiribati) on June 9 (Wednesday), and ending at sunset in Peru on June 8 (Tuesday). At sunrise totality lasted 3 minutes, 6.8 seconds and at sunset totality lasted 3 minutes, 5.1 seconds. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Oceania, Hawaii, southern North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and western South America. American astronomy professor Ethelwynn Rice Beckwith traveled to Peru to see this eclipse, and described the event in detail for the Oberlin Alumnae Magazine in 1937, in an article titled "Three Minutes in Peru."[8]

Observations

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Scientists from the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand observed the total eclipse in Canton Island, Phoenix Islands. The American expedition was organized by the National Geographic Society and assisted by the United States Navy. This total solar eclipse was memorable for three reasons: first, the duration of totality was particularly long with the longest point in eastern Pacific exceeding 7 minutes; second, despite being in the tropics, weather was good for all observation sites; third, broadcasts were made through radio before, during and after the eclipse through long distances so people could hear the details.[9][10]

Eclipse details

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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.[11]

June 8, 1937 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1937 June 08 at 18:04:51.1 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1937 June 08 at 18:59:01.4 UTC
First Central Line 1937 June 08 at 19:00:34.9 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1937 June 08 at 19:02:08.4 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact 1937 June 08 at 19:58:44.5 UTC
Greatest Duration 1937 June 08 at 20:40:34.6 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1937 June 08 at 20:41:01.5 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1937 June 08 at 20:41:09.6 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1937 June 08 at 20:43:19.5 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1937 June 08 at 21:23:18.0 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1937 June 08 at 22:19:55.6 UTC
Last Central Line 1937 June 08 at 22:21:28.3 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1937 June 08 at 22:23:00.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1937 June 08 at 23:17:13.7 UTC
June 8, 1937 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.07513
Eclipse Obscuration 1.15590
Gamma −0.22532
Sun Right Ascension 05h06m06.4s
Sun Declination +22°52'06.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'45.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7"
Moon Right Ascension 05h06m06.1s
Moon Declination +22°38'22.0"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'39.4"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'08.0"
ΔT 23.9 s

Eclipse season

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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 May–June 1937
May 25
Ascending node (full moon)
June 8
Descending node (new moon)
   
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 110
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 136
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Eclipses in 1937

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Solar Saros 136

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1935–1938

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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.[12]

The partial solar eclipses on February 3, 1935 and July 30, 1935 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1935 to 1938
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
111 January 5, 1935
 
Partial
−1.5381 116 June 30, 1935
 
Partial
1.3623
121 December 25, 1935
 
Annular
−0.9228 126 June 19, 1936
 
Total
0.5389
131 December 13, 1936
 
Annular
−0.2493 136
 
Totality in Kanton Island,
Kiribati
June 8, 1937
 
Total
−0.2253
141 December 2, 1937
 
Annular
0.4389 146 May 29, 1938
 
Total
−0.9607
151 November 21, 1938
 
Partial
1.1077

Saros 136

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on June 14, 1360. It contains annular eclipses from September 8, 1504 through November 12, 1594; hybrid eclipses from November 22, 1612 through January 17, 1703; and total eclipses from January 27, 1721 through May 13, 2496. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622. 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 9 at 32 seconds on September 8, 1504, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 34 at 7 minutes, 7.74 seconds on June 20, 1955. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[13]

Series members 26–47 occur between 1801 and 2200:
26 27 28
 
March 24, 1811
 
April 3, 1829
 
April 15, 1847
29 30 31
 
April 25, 1865
 
May 6, 1883
 
May 18, 1901
32 33 34
 
May 29, 1919
 
June 8, 1937
 
June 20, 1955
35 36 37
 
June 30, 1973
 
July 11, 1991
 
July 22, 2009
38 39 40
 
August 2, 2027
 
August 12, 2045
 
August 24, 2063
41 42 43
 
September 3, 2081
 
September 14, 2099
 
September 26, 2117
44 45 46
 
October 7, 2135
 
October 17, 2153
 
October 29, 2171
47
 
November 8, 2189

Metonic series

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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 March 27, 1884 and August 20, 1971
March 27–29 January 14 November 1–2 August 20–21 June 8
108 110 112 114 116
 
March 27, 1884
 
August 20, 1895
 
June 8, 1899
118 120 122 124 126
 
March 29, 1903
 
January 14, 1907
 
November 2, 1910
 
August 21, 1914
 
June 8, 1918
128 130 132 134 136
 
March 28, 1922
 
January 14, 1926
 
November 1, 1929
 
August 21, 1933
 
June 8, 1937
138 140 142 144 146
 
March 27, 1941
 
January 14, 1945
 
November 1, 1948
 
August 20, 1952
 
June 8, 1956
148 150 152 154
 
March 27, 1960
 
January 14, 1964
 
November 2, 1967
 
August 20, 1971

Tritos series

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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 2200
 
June 16, 1806
(Saros 124)
 
May 16, 1817
(Saros 125)
 
April 14, 1828
(Saros 126)
 
March 15, 1839
(Saros 127)
 
February 12, 1850
(Saros 128)
 
January 11, 1861
(Saros 129)
 
December 12, 1871
(Saros 130)
 
November 10, 1882
(Saros 131)
 
October 9, 1893
(Saros 132)
 
September 9, 1904
(Saros 133)
 
August 10, 1915
(Saros 134)
 
July 9, 1926
(Saros 135)
 
June 8, 1937
(Saros 136)
 
May 9, 1948
(Saros 137)
 
April 8, 1959
(Saros 138)
 
March 7, 1970
(Saros 139)
 
February 4, 1981
(Saros 140)
 
January 4, 1992
(Saros 141)
 
December 4, 2002
(Saros 142)
 
November 3, 2013
(Saros 143)
 
October 2, 2024
(Saros 144)
 
September 2, 2035
(Saros 145)
 
August 2, 2046
(Saros 146)
 
July 1, 2057
(Saros 147)
 
May 31, 2068
(Saros 148)
 
May 1, 2079
(Saros 149)
 
March 31, 2090
(Saros 150)
 
February 28, 2101
(Saros 151)
 
January 29, 2112
(Saros 152)
 
December 28, 2122
(Saros 153)
 
November 26, 2133
(Saros 154)
 
October 26, 2144
(Saros 155)
 
September 26, 2155
(Saros 156)
 
August 25, 2166
(Saros 157)
 
July 25, 2177
(Saros 158)
 
June 24, 2188
(Saros 159)
 
May 24, 2199
(Saros 160)

Inex series

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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
 
August 27, 1821
(Saros 132)
 
August 7, 1850
(Saros 133)
 
July 19, 1879
(Saros 134)
 
June 28, 1908
(Saros 135)
 
June 8, 1937
(Saros 136)
 
May 20, 1966
(Saros 137)
 
April 29, 1995
(Saros 138)
 
April 8, 2024
(Saros 139)
 
March 20, 2053
(Saros 140)
 
February 27, 2082
(Saros 141)
 
February 8, 2111
(Saros 142)
 
January 20, 2140
(Saros 143)
 
December 29, 2168
(Saros 144)
 
December 9, 2197
(Saros 145)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "June 8, 1937 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  3. ^ Espenak, Fred. "Total Solar Eclipses with Durations Exceeding 07m 00s: -3999 to 6000". NASA Eclipse Web Site.
  4. ^ "Isle Eclipse Group Anxious To Return To Mainland". The Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu, Hawaii. 1937-06-09. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-10-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Solar Eclipse: To-day's Phenomenon". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia. 1937-06-09. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-10-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Scientists Get Good Pictures Of Eclipse". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. 1937-06-09. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-10-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Eclipse and Shadow of Moon On Earth Photographed From Plane 5 Miles High, Other Good Shots". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. 1937-06-09. p. 19. Retrieved 2023-10-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Beckwith, Ethelwynn Rice (November 1937). "Three Minutes in Peru". Oberlin Alumnae Magazine: 2–3 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Mitchell, S. A. (February 1938). "The Total Eclipse Observed on Canton Island". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 50 (293): 23. Bibcode:1938PASP...50...23M. doi:10.1086/124881. ISSN 0004-6280. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022.
  10. ^ Michie, C. B. (1 December 1938). "Report of the New Zealand Total Solar Eclipse Expedition to Canton Island, 1937 June 8". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 99 (2): 132–135. doi:10.1093/mnras/99.2.132. ISSN 0035-8711.
  11. ^ "Total Solar Eclipse of 1937 Jun 08". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 136". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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