Solar eclipse of December 25, 1954

Solar eclipse of December 25, 1954
Solar eclipse of December 25, 1954
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	−0.2576
Magnitude	0.9323
Maximum eclipse
Duration	459 s (7 min 39 s)
Coordinates	38°24′S 68°12′E / 38.4°S 68.2°E
Max. width of band	262 km (163 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	7:36:42
References
Saros	131 (47 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9409

An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 25, 1954, also known as "The Christmas 1954 solar eclipse". 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 kilometers wide. Annularity was visible from the southwestern tip of South West Africa (Now Namibia), Union of South Africa (Now South Africa), Ashmore and Cartier Islands except Cartier Island, Indonesia and Portuguese Timor (Now East Timor).

Related eclipses edit

Solar eclipses of 1953–1956 edit

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.^[1]

Note: Partial solar eclipse of February 14, 1953 and August 9, 1953 belong to the last lunar year set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1953 to 1956
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
116	1953 July 11 Partial	1.43882	121	1954 January 5 Annular	-0.92960
126	1954 June 30 Total	0.61345	131	1954 December 25 Annular	-0.25762
136	1955 June 20 Total	-0.15278	141	1955 December 14 Annular	0.42658
146	1956 June 8 Total	-0.89341	151	1956 December 2 Partial	1.09229

Saros 131 edit

It is a part of Saros cycle 131, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 1, 1125. It contains total eclipses from March 27, 1522 through May 30, 1612 and hybrid eclipses from June 10, 1630 through July 24, 1702, and annular eclipses from August 4, 1720 through June 18, 2243. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on September 2, 2369. The longest duration of totality was only 58 seconds on May 30, 1612. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.

Series members 33–70 occur between 1702 and 2369
33	34	35
July 24, 1702	August 4, 1720	August 15, 1738
36	37	38
August 25, 1756	September 6, 1774	September 16, 1792
39	40	41
September 28, 1810	October 9, 1828	October 20, 1846
42	43	44
October 30, 1864	November 10, 1882	November 22, 1900
45	46	47
December 3, 1918	December 13, 1936	December 25, 1954
48	49	50
January 4, 1973	January 15, 1991	January 26, 2009
51	52	53
February 6, 2027	February 16, 2045	February 28, 2063
54	55	56
March 10, 2081	March 21, 2099	April 2, 2117
57	58	59
April 13, 2135	April 23, 2153	May 5, 2171
60	61	62
May 15, 2189	May 27, 2207	June 6, 2225
63	64	65
June 18, 2243	June 28, 2261	July 9, 2279
66	67	68
July 20, 2297	August 1, 2315	August 11, 2333
69	70
August 22, 2351	September 2, 2369

Metonic series edit

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.

22 eclipse events between December 24, 1916 and July 31, 2000
December 24–25	October 12–13	July 31-Aug 1	May 18–20	March 7–8
91	93	95	97	99
December 23, 1878	October 12, 1882	July 31, 1886	May 18, 1890	March 7, 1894
101	103	105	107	109
December 23, 1897	October 12, 1901	August 1, 1905	May 19, 1909	March 8, 1913
111	113	115	117	119
December 24, 1916	October 12, 1920	July 31, 1924	May 19, 1928	March 7, 1932
121	123	125	127	129
December 25, 1935	October 12, 1939	August 1, 1943	May 20, 1947	March 7, 1951
131	133	135	137	139
December 25, 1954	October 12, 1958	July 31, 1962	May 20, 1966	March 7, 1970
141	143	145	147	149
December 24, 1973	October 12, 1977	July 31, 1981	May 19, 1985	March 7, 1989
151	153	155	157	159
December 24, 1992	October 12, 1996	July 31, 2000	May 19, 2004	March 7, 2008
161	163	165	167	169
December 24, 2011	October 13, 2015	August 1, 2019	May 19, 2023	March 8, 2027