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Solar eclipse of February 4, 1943

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Solar eclipse of February 4, 1943
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma0.8734
Magnitude1.0331
Maximum eclipse
Duration159 s (2 min 39 s)
Coordinates43°36′N 175°06′E / 43.6°N 175.1°E / 43.6; 175.1
Max. width of band229 km (142 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse23:38:10
References
Saros120 (57 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9382

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Thursday, February 4 and Friday, February 5, 1943,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0331. 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 22 hours after perigee (on February 4, 1943, at 1:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

It began on the morning on February 5 (Friday) over northeastern China (then occupied by Manchukuo), Primorsky Krai in the Soviet Union (now Russia), Hokkaido and southern Kunashir Island in Japan (Kunashir now belonging to Russia) and ended at sunset on February 4 (Thursday) over Alaska and Yukon in Canada. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of East Asia, Hawaii, and western North America.

Observations

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In China, the eclipse occurred on February 5, the exact date of the Lunar New Year. However it was during the Second Sino-Japanese War and all the areas within the path of totality which is now in China were then under the control of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state. Chinese scientists did not make any observation for scientific purposes. A short report with the title "Tokyo total solar eclipse" was published in Kuomintang's official newspaper Central Daily News. Actually, Tokyo was out of the path of totality and only a partial eclipse was visible.[3]

The Japanese headquarters of the International Latitude Observatory, the predecessor of the Mizusawa VLBI Observatory [ja] of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Mizusawa, Iwate (now part of the city of Ōshū) sent an observation team to Kushiro, Hokkaido. Seiichi Oikawa, a member of the team, took photos of the total eclipse.[4] In Kushiro the weather conditions were good and the solar eclipse began at 6:46 am, 11 minutes after sunrise. About 1 hour and 5 minutes later, the sun was completely covered by the moon and the totality phase was seen for less than 2 minutes.[5]

In the Territory of Alaska (now the state of Alaska), a total eclipse was visible from cities including Seward, Valdez and Kodiac. Alaska's largest city, Anchorage was located near the northern edge of the path of totality. A total eclipse was visible in the southeastern part of the city. The University of Alaska held a conference on February 4, the exact day of the eclipse, to explain in-depth information on the eclipse.[6]

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.[7]

February 4, 1943 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1943 February 04 at 21:26:44.5 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1943 February 04 at 22:46:38.7 UTC
First Central Line 1943 February 04 at 22:48:02.2 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1943 February 04 at 22:49:27.4 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1943 February 04 at 23:29:20.2 UTC
Greatest Duration 1943 February 04 at 23:37:07.6 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1943 February 04 at 23:38:10.3 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1943 February 04 at 23:56:42.1 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1943 February 05 at 00:26:41.1 UTC
Last Central Line 1943 February 05 at 00:28:05.3 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1943 February 05 at 00:29:27.7 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1943 February 05 at 01:49:29.8 UTC
February 4, 1943 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.03313
Eclipse Obscuration 1.06736
Gamma 0.87335
Sun Right Ascension 21h11m02.0s
Sun Declination -16°15'11.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'13.3"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 21h10m17.8s
Moon Declination -15°23'06.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'37.6"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'01.1"
ΔT 25.7 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 February 1943
February 4
Descending node (new moon)
February 20
Ascending node (full moon)
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 120
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 132
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Eclipses in 1943

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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 120

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1942–1946

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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.[8]

The partial solar eclipses on March 16, 1942 and September 10, 1942 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipses on May 30, 1946 and November 23, 1946 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1942 to 1946
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
115 August 12, 1942

Partial
−1.5244 120 February 4, 1943

Total
0.8734
125 August 1, 1943

Annular
−0.8041 130 January 25, 1944

Total
0.2025
135 July 20, 1944

Annular
−0.0314 140 January 14, 1945

Annular
−0.4937
145 July 9, 1945

Total
0.7356 150 January 3, 1946

Partial
−1.2392
155 June 29, 1946

Partial
1.4361

Saros 120

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 120, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 27, 933 AD. It contains annular eclipses from August 11, 1059 through April 26, 1492; hybrid eclipses from May 8, 1510 through June 8, 1564; and total eclipses from June 20, 1582 through March 30, 2033. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 7, 2195. 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 11 at 6 minutes, 24 seconds on September 11, 1113, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 60 at 2 minutes, 50 seconds on March 9, 1997. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[9]

Series members 50–71 occur between 1801 and 2195:
50 51 52

November 19, 1816

November 30, 1834

December 11, 1852
53 54 55

December 22, 1870

January 1, 1889

January 14, 1907
56 57 58

January 24, 1925

February 4, 1943

February 15, 1961
59 60 61

February 26, 1979

March 9, 1997

March 20, 2015
62 63 64

March 30, 2033

April 11, 2051

April 21, 2069
65 66 67

May 2, 2087

May 14, 2105

May 25, 2123
68 69 70

June 4, 2141

June 16, 2159

June 26, 2177
71

July 7, 2195

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 September 12, 1931 and July 1, 2011
September 11–12 June 30–July 1 April 17–19 February 4–5 November 22–23
114 116 118 120 122

September 12, 1931

June 30, 1935

April 19, 1939

February 4, 1943

November 23, 1946
124 126 128 130 132

September 12, 1950

June 30, 1954

April 19, 1958

February 5, 1962

November 23, 1965
134 136 138 140 142

September 11, 1969

June 30, 1973

April 18, 1977

February 4, 1981

November 22, 1984
144 146 148 150 152

September 11, 1988

June 30, 1992

April 17, 1996

February 5, 2000

November 23, 2003
154 156

September 11, 2007

July 1, 2011

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

March 14, 1801
(Saros 107)

February 12, 1812
(Saros 108)

January 12, 1823
(Saros 109)

November 10, 1844
(Saros 111)

August 9, 1877
(Saros 114)

July 9, 1888
(Saros 115)

June 8, 1899
(Saros 116)

May 9, 1910
(Saros 117)

April 8, 1921
(Saros 118)

March 7, 1932
(Saros 119)

February 4, 1943
(Saros 120)

January 5, 1954
(Saros 121)

December 4, 1964
(Saros 122)

November 3, 1975
(Saros 123)

October 3, 1986
(Saros 124)

September 2, 1997
(Saros 125)

August 1, 2008
(Saros 126)

July 2, 2019
(Saros 127)

June 1, 2030
(Saros 128)

April 30, 2041
(Saros 129)

March 30, 2052
(Saros 130)

February 28, 2063
(Saros 131)

January 27, 2074
(Saros 132)

December 27, 2084
(Saros 133)

November 27, 2095
(Saros 134)

October 26, 2106
(Saros 135)

September 26, 2117
(Saros 136)

August 25, 2128
(Saros 137)

July 25, 2139
(Saros 138)

June 25, 2150
(Saros 139)

May 25, 2161
(Saros 140)

April 23, 2172
(Saros 141)

March 23, 2183
(Saros 142)

February 21, 2194
(Saros 143)

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

April 26, 1827
(Saros 116)

April 5, 1856
(Saros 117)

March 16, 1885
(Saros 118)

February 25, 1914
(Saros 119)

February 4, 1943
(Saros 120)

January 16, 1972
(Saros 121)

December 25, 2000
(Saros 122)

December 5, 2029
(Saros 123)

November 16, 2058
(Saros 124)

October 26, 2087
(Saros 125)

October 6, 2116
(Saros 126)

September 16, 2145
(Saros 127)

August 27, 2174
(Saros 128)

Notes

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  1. ^ "February 4–5, 1943 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  3. ^ "《新闻调查》 19970314 寻踪日全食" (in Chinese). China Central Television. 14 March 1997. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015.
  4. ^ "日本公开1943年拍摄的日全食照片" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2020-05-01.
  5. ^ "北海道の広い範囲で皆既日食" (in Japanese). Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  6. ^ The University of Alaska (1 March 1943). "Farthest-North Collegian" (pdf). Farthest-North Collegian.
  7. ^ "Total Solar Eclipse of 1943 Feb 04". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 120". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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