Solar eclipse of December 3, 1918

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, December 3, 1918, with a magnitude of 0.9383. 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 4.3 days after apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from Chile including the capital city Santiago, Argentina including capital Buenos Aires, southern Uruguay including capital Montevideo, northeastern tip of South West Africa and southwestern Portuguese Angola. Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside Asia, also lies in the path of annularity. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, and Central Africa.

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	1918 December 03 at 12:21:26.8 UTC
First Umbral External Contact	1918 December 03 at 13:26:14.8 UTC
First Central Line	1918 December 03 at 13:28:57.9 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact	1918 December 03 at 13:31:41.2 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact	1918 December 03 at 14:40:20.1 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction	1918 December 03 at 15:19:13.2 UTC
Greatest Eclipse	1918 December 03 at 15:22:01.5 UTC
Greatest Duration	1918 December 03 at 15:22:11.4 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction	1918 December 03 at 15:23:11.5 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact	1918 December 03 at 16:03:41.9 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact	1918 December 03 at 17:12:22.6 UTC
Last Central Line	1918 December 03 at 17:15:03.6 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact	1918 December 03 at 17:17:44.3 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact	1918 December 03 at 18:22:30.4 UTC

Parameter	Value
Eclipse Magnitude	0.93826
Eclipse Obscuration	0.88034
Gamma	−0.23873
Sun Right Ascension	16h36m17.1s
Sun Declination	-22°03'17.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter	16'13.6"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	08.9"
Moon Right Ascension	16h36m14.8s
Moon Declination	-22°16'22.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter	15'00.0"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax	0°55'03.1"
ΔT	20.9 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.