Solar eclipse of December 14, 1917

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, December 14, 1917, with a magnitude of 0.9791. 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. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring 4.6 days before apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
This was the last of four solar eclipses in 1917, with the others occurring on January 23, June 19 and July 19.
The path of annularity crossed Antarctica. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Antarctica, southern South America, and Australia. This annular eclipse is notable in that the path of annularity passed over the South Pole.

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.

Event	Time
First Penumbral External Contact	1917 December 14 at 07:09:48.7 UTC
First Umbral External Contact	1917 December 14 at 08:41:49.9 UTC
First Central Line	1917 December 14 at 08:43:56.6 UTC
Greatest Duration	1917 December 14 at 08:43:56.6 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact	1917 December 14 at 08:46:08.6 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction	1917 December 14 at 09:17:22.8 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction	1917 December 14 at 09:23:35.1 UTC
Greatest Eclipse	1917 December 14 at 09:27:19.7 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact	1917 December 14 at 10:08:36.2 UTC
Last Central Line	1917 December 14 at 10:10:45.3 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact	1917 December 14 at 10:12:49.1 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact	1917 December 14 at 11:44:46.7 UTC

Parameter	Value
Eclipse Magnitude	0.97913
Eclipse Obscuration	0.95870
Gamma	–0.91566
Sun Right Ascension	17h24m28.1s
Sun Declination	-23°11'55.0"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'15.0"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	17h24m36.7s
Moon Declination	-24°04'53.4"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'48.9"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°58'02.6"
ΔT	20.2 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months 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.