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Solar eclipse of June 29, 1927

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Solar eclipse of June 29, 1927
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma0.8163
Magnitude1.0128
Maximum eclipse
Duration50 s (0 min 50 s)
Coordinates78°06′N 73°48′E / 78.1°N 73.8°E / 78.1; 73.8
Max. width of band77 km (48 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse6:23:27
References
Saros145 (17 of 77)
Catalog # (SE5000)9344

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Tuesday, June 28 and Wednesday, June 29, 1927,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0128. 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 20 hours after perigee (on June 28, 1927, at 10:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]

The path of totality crossed far northern Europe and Asia, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Soviet Union (today's Russia) on June 29 (Wednesday), and finally passed Amukta in Alaska on June 28 (Tuesday). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Europe, North Africa, North Asia, and northern North America.

Observation in England

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This was the first total eclipse visible from British mainland soil for 203 years. The Astronomer Royal set up a camp to observe the eclipse from the grounds of Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire, which was on the line of totality.[3][4] An observer at Southport, where an estimated quarter of a million people were on the shore to watch, described the eclipse for the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, describing it as "those memorable 23 seconds ... a landmark forever in the lives of those privileged to see for the first time the Sun's Corona, whose secrets are only revealed to us for some few minutes in each century."[5]

This eclipse is referenced in the closing pages of Dorothy L. Sayers' novel Unnatural Death.[6] Frances Brody's 2017 novel Death in the Stars is set at Giggleswick School while crowds were there to view the eclipse.[7]

Virginia Woolf recorded her impression of the eclipse, including the words "We had fallen. It was extinct. There was no colour. The earth was dead."[8]

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.[9]

June 29, 1927 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1927 June 29 at 04:00:07.6 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1927 June 29 at 05:20:27.1 UTC
First Central Line 1927 June 29 at 05:20:38.0 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1927 June 29 at 05:20:49.1 UTC
Greatest Duration 1927 June 29 at 06:21:22.6 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1927 June 29 at 06:23:27.1 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1927 June 29 at 06:27:51.0 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1927 June 29 at 06:32:16.1 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1927 June 29 at 07:26:05.2 UTC
Last Central Line 1927 June 29 at 07:26:13.4 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1927 June 29 at 07:26:21.6 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1927 June 29 at 08:46:50.3 UTC
June 29, 1927 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.01277
Eclipse Obscuration 1.02570
Gamma 0.81630
Sun Right Ascension 06h28m24.1s
Sun Declination +23°17'17.5"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'43.9"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.6"
Moon Right Ascension 06h28m13.9s
Moon Declination +24°04'25.1"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'47.4"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'56.9"
ΔT 24.4 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 June 1927
June 15
Descending node (full moon)
June 29
Ascending node (new moon)
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 119
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 145
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Eclipses in 1927

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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 145

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1924–1928

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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.[10]

The partial solar eclipses on March 5, 1924 and August 30, 1924 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the solar eclipses on May 19, 1928 and November 12, 1928 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1924 to 1928
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
115 July 31, 1924

Partial
−1.4459 120 January 24, 1925

Total
0.8661
125 July 20, 1925

Annular
−0.7193 130

Totality in Sumatra, Indonesia
January 14, 1926

Total
0.1973
135 July 9, 1926

Annular
0.0538 140 January 3, 1927

Annular
−0.4956
145 June 29, 1927

Total
0.8163 150 December 24, 1927

Partial
−1.2416
155 June 17, 1928

Partial
1.5107

Saros 145

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 145, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 77 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on January 4, 1639. It contains an annular eclipse on June 6, 1891; a hybrid eclipse on June 17, 1909; and total eclipses from June 29, 1927 through September 9, 2648. The series ends at member 77 as a partial eclipse on April 17, 3009. 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 15 at 6 seconds (by default) on June 6, 1891, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 50 at 7 minutes, 12 seconds on June 25, 2522. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[11]

Series members 10–32 occur between 1801 and 2200:
10 11 12

April 13, 1801

April 24, 1819

May 4, 1837
13 14 15

May 16, 1855

May 26, 1873

June 6, 1891
16 17 18

June 17, 1909

June 29, 1927

July 9, 1945
19 20 21

July 20, 1963

July 31, 1981

August 11, 1999
22 23 24

August 21, 2017

September 2, 2035

September 12, 2053
25 26 27

September 23, 2071

October 4, 2089

October 16, 2107
28 29 30

October 26, 2125

November 7, 2143

November 17, 2161
31 32

November 28, 2179

December 9, 2197

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 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

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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.

The partial solar eclipses on November 16, 2134 (part of Saros 164) and October 16, 2145 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2069

June 6, 1807
(Saros 134)

May 5, 1818
(Saros 135)

April 3, 1829
(Saros 136)

March 4, 1840
(Saros 137)

February 1, 1851
(Saros 138)

December 31, 1861
(Saros 139)

November 30, 1872
(Saros 140)

October 30, 1883
(Saros 141)

September 29, 1894
(Saros 142)

August 30, 1905
(Saros 143)

July 30, 1916
(Saros 144)

June 29, 1927
(Saros 145)

May 29, 1938
(Saros 146)

April 28, 1949
(Saros 147)

March 27, 1960
(Saros 148)

February 25, 1971
(Saros 149)

January 25, 1982
(Saros 150)

December 24, 1992
(Saros 151)

November 23, 2003
(Saros 152)

October 23, 2014
(Saros 153)

September 21, 2025
(Saros 154)

August 21, 2036
(Saros 155)

July 22, 2047
(Saros 156)

June 21, 2058
(Saros 157)

May 20, 2069
(Saros 158)

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

September 17, 1811
(Saros 141)

August 27, 1840
(Saros 142)

August 7, 1869
(Saros 143)

July 18, 1898
(Saros 144)

June 29, 1927
(Saros 145)

June 8, 1956
(Saros 146)

May 19, 1985
(Saros 147)

April 29, 2014
(Saros 148)

April 9, 2043
(Saros 149)

March 19, 2072
(Saros 150)

February 28, 2101
(Saros 151)

February 8, 2130
(Saros 152)

January 19, 2159
(Saros 153)

December 29, 2187
(Saros 154)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "June 29, 1927 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  3. ^ "With the Astronomer Royal". The Guardian. 30 June 1927. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Eclipse archive". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 17 August 1999. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  5. ^ Seeley, Sylvia (1927). "The total eclipse of June 29, 1927 as seen by a spectator at Southport, England". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 21: 328-332. Bibcode:1927JRASC..21..328S. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS).
  6. ^ "Unnatural Death".
  7. ^ "Death in the Stars: the ninth Kate Shackleton mystery by Frances Brody". frances-brody.com. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  8. ^ Popova, Maria (9 May 2018). "Darkness in the Celestial Lighthouse: Virginia Woolf's Arresting 1927 Account of a Total Solar Eclipse". The Marginalian. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Total Solar Eclipse of 1927 Jun 29". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 145". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Sources

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