An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Thursday, December 2 and Friday, December 3, 1937, with a magnitude of 0.9184. 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. Occurring about 18 hours before apogee (on December 3, 1937, at 16:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
The duration of annularity at maximum eclipse (closest to but slightly shorter than the longest duration) was 12 minutes, 0.33 seconds in the Pacific Ocean. It was the longest annular solar eclipse since December 25, 1628, but the Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955 lasted longer.
Annularity was visible from outlying islands in Japan on December 3, including part of Ogasawara Village and South Seas Mandate (the part now belonging to Marshall Islands), and also Teraina and Tabuaeran in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (the part now belonging to Kiribati), a colony of the United Kingdom, on December 2. (However, time zone of the Line Islands including Teraina and Tabuaeran was changed from UTC−10 to UTC+14 in 1995. The date would be December 3 for all annular eclipse visible from land if observing the present day's time zone.)
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of East Asia, northern Oceania, Hawaii, and western North America. Part of these areas are east of the 180th meridian, seeing the eclipse on December 2, and the rest west of the 180th meridian, seeing the eclipse on December 3.
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.
+December 2, 1937 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1937 December 2 at 20:05:29.6 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1937 December 2 at 21:14:57.2 UTC First Central Line 1937 December 2 at 21:18:43.1 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1937 December 2 at 21:22:30.7 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1937 December 2 at 23:03:27.6 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1937 December 2 at 23:05:45.1 UTC Greatest Duration 1937 December 2 at 23:07:42.3 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1937 December 2 at 23:11:03.1 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1937 December 3 at 00:49:00.8 UTC Last Central Line 1937 December 3 at 00:52:48.8 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1937 December 3 at 00:56:35.2 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1937 December 3 at 02:06:02.7 UTC
+December 2, 1937 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.91842 Eclipse Obscuration 0.84349 Gamma 0.43886 Sun Right Ascension 16h35m02.2s Sun Declination -22°00'36.6" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'13.6" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 16h35m06.6s Moon Declination -21°37'01.0" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'42.2" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°53'57.6" 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 November–December 1937 November 18Descending node (full moon) December 2Ascending node (new moon) Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 115 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 141
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1937 A penumbral lunar eclipse on May 25. A total solar eclipse on June 8. A partial lunar eclipse on November 18. An annular solar eclipse on December 2.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1934 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 21, 1941
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 21, 1930 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1945
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 27, 1928 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1946
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1927 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 1, 1948
Solar Saros 141 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 22, 1919 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 23, 1908 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1966
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1851 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 2, 2024
Solar eclipses of 1935–1938
Saros 141
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References
External links