Solar eclipse of August 31, 1932

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Wednesday, August 31 and Thursday, September 1, 1932,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0257. 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 3 days before perigee (on September 3, 1932, at 19:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]

Solar eclipse of August 31, 1932
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma0.8307
Magnitude1.0257
Maximum eclipse
Duration105 s (1 min 45 s)
Coordinates54°30′N 79°30′W / 54.5°N 79.5°W / 54.5; -79.5
Max. width of band155 km (96 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse20:03:41
References
Saros124 (50 of 73)
Catalog # (SE5000)9357
A total solar eclipse over a country road
The total solar eclipse over a country road in Maine
A notice titled "Total eclipse of the sun : August 31st 1932" with a map of Maine
A notice on the eclipse by the Maine Central Railroad Company

Totality was visible from Northwest Territories (today's Northwest Territories and Nunavut) and Quebec in Canada, and northeastern Vermont, New Hampshire, southwestern Maine, the northeastern tip of Massachusetts, and northeastern Cape Cod in the United States. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the eastern Soviet Union (on September 1 local time), North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America.

Observations

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Members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada made observations in Maskinongé, Magog, Acton Vale, Sorel-Tracy and Louisville in Quebec. The sky in Quebec was covered in clouds on the morning of August 31. In the afternoon, the clouds gradually dispersed, and observations of totality were successful.[3] In the northeastern United States, scientists also studied the reactions of animals during the eclipse.[4]

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.[5]

August 31, 1932 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1932 August 31 at 17:44:58.8 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1932 August 31 at 19:03:55.7 UTC
First Central Line 1932 August 31 at 19:04:44.4 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1932 August 31 at 19:05:33.5 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1932 August 31 at 19:17:18.7 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1932 August 31 at 19:54:55.5 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1932 August 31 at 20:03:41.1 UTC
Greatest Duration 1932 August 31 at 20:04:47.8 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1932 August 31 at 21:02:15.0 UTC
Last Central Line 1932 August 31 at 21:03:06.5 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1932 August 31 at 21:03:57.4 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1932 August 31 at 22:22:37.3 UTC
August 31, 1932 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.02572
Eclipse Obscuration 1.05209
Gamma 0.83068
Sun Right Ascension 10h39m17.5s
Sun Declination +08°30'34.8"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'51.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7"
Moon Right Ascension 10h40m49.4s
Moon Declination +09°14'00.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter 16'06.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°59'08.4"
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 August–September 1932
August 31
Descending node (new moon)
September 14
Ascending node (full moon)
   
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 124
Partial lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 136
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Eclipses in 1932

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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 124

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1931–1935

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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.[6]

The partial solar eclipses on April 18, 1931 and October 11, 1931 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the solar eclipses on January 5, 1935 (partial), June 30, 1935 (partial), and December 25, 1935 (annular) occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1931 to 1935
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
114 September 12, 1931
 
Partial
1.506 119 March 7, 1932
 
Annular
−0.9673
124 August 31, 1932
 
Total
0.8307 129 February 24, 1933
 
Annular
−0.2191
134 August 21, 1933
 
Annular
0.0869 139 February 14, 1934
 
Total
0.4868
144 August 10, 1934
 
Annular
−0.689 149 February 3, 1935
 
Partial
1.1438
154 July 30, 1935
 
Partial
−1.4259

Saros 124

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 124, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on March 6, 1049. It contains total eclipses from June 12, 1211 through September 22, 1968, and a hybrid eclipse on October 3, 1986. There are no annular eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on May 11, 2347. 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 totality was produced by member 39 at 5 minutes, 46 seconds on May 3, 1734. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[7]

Series members 43–64 occur between 1801 and 2200:
43 44 45
 
June 16, 1806
 
June 26, 1824
 
July 8, 1842
46 47 48
 
July 18, 1860
 
July 29, 1878
 
August 9, 1896
49 50 51
 
August 21, 1914
 
August 31, 1932
 
September 12, 1950
52 53 54
 
September 22, 1968
 
October 3, 1986
 
October 14, 2004
55 56 57
 
October 25, 2022
 
November 4, 2040
 
November 16, 2058
58 59 60
 
November 26, 2076
 
December 7, 2094
 
December 19, 2112
61 62 63
 
December 30, 2130
 
January 9, 2149
 
January 21, 2167
64
 
January 31, 2185

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 April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989
April 7–8 January 24–25 November 12 August 31–September 1 June 19–20
108 110 112 114 116
 
April 8, 1902
 
August 31, 1913
 
June 19, 1917
118 120 122 124 126
 
April 8, 1921
 
January 24, 1925
 
November 12, 1928
 
August 31, 1932
 
June 19, 1936
128 130 132 134 136
 
April 7, 1940
 
January 25, 1944
 
November 12, 1947
 
September 1, 1951
 
June 20, 1955
138 140 142 144 146
 
April 8, 1959
 
January 25, 1963
 
November 12, 1966
 
August 31, 1970
 
June 20, 1974
148 150 152 154
 
April 7, 1978
 
January 25, 1982
 
November 12, 1985
 
August 31, 1989

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
 
September 8, 1801
(Saros 112)
 
August 7, 1812
(Saros 113)
 
July 8, 1823
(Saros 114)
 
June 7, 1834
(Saros 115)
 
May 6, 1845
(Saros 116)
 
April 5, 1856
(Saros 117)
 
March 6, 1867
(Saros 118)
 
February 2, 1878
(Saros 119)
 
January 1, 1889
(Saros 120)
 
December 3, 1899
(Saros 121)
 
November 2, 1910
(Saros 122)
 
October 1, 1921
(Saros 123)
 
August 31, 1932
(Saros 124)
 
August 1, 1943
(Saros 125)
 
June 30, 1954
(Saros 126)
 
May 30, 1965
(Saros 127)
 
April 29, 1976
(Saros 128)
 
March 29, 1987
(Saros 129)
 
February 26, 1998
(Saros 130)
 
January 26, 2009
(Saros 131)
 
December 26, 2019
(Saros 132)
 
November 25, 2030
(Saros 133)
 
October 25, 2041
(Saros 134)
 
September 22, 2052
(Saros 135)
 
August 24, 2063
(Saros 136)
 
July 24, 2074
(Saros 137)
 
June 22, 2085
(Saros 138)
 
May 22, 2096
(Saros 139)
 
April 23, 2107
(Saros 140)
 
March 22, 2118
(Saros 141)
 
February 18, 2129
(Saros 142)
 
January 20, 2140
(Saros 143)
 
December 19, 2150
(Saros 144)
 
November 17, 2161
(Saros 145)
 
October 17, 2172
(Saros 146)
 
September 16, 2183
(Saros 147)
 
August 16, 2194
(Saros 148)

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
 
November 19, 1816
(Saros 120)
 
October 30, 1845
(Saros 121)
 
October 10, 1874
(Saros 122)
 
September 21, 1903
(Saros 123)
 
August 31, 1932
(Saros 124)
 
August 11, 1961
(Saros 125)
 
July 22, 1990
(Saros 126)
 
July 2, 2019
(Saros 127)
 
June 11, 2048
(Saros 128)
 
May 22, 2077
(Saros 129)
 
May 3, 2106
(Saros 130)
 
April 13, 2135
(Saros 131)
 
March 23, 2164
(Saros 132)
 
March 3, 2193
(Saros 133)

Notes

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  1. ^ "August 31, 1932 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Past Solar Eclipses & Expeditions". Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016.
  4. ^ William Morton Wheeler, Clinton V. MacCoy, Ludlow Griscom, Glover M. Allen and Harold J. Coolidge Jr. (March 1935). "Observations on the Behavior of Animals during the Total Solar Eclipse of August 31, 1932". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 70 (2). American Academy of Arts and Sciences: 33–70. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Total Solar Eclipse of 1932 Aug 31". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 124". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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