Solar eclipse of January 14, 1926


A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, January 14, 1926, with a magnitude of 1.043. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring 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 17 hours after perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
Totality was visible from French Equatorial Africa, northeastern Belgian Congo, southwestern tip of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, British Uganda, British Kenya, southern tip of Italian Somaliland, British Seychelles, Dutch East Indies, Raj of Sarawak, North Borneo, and Philippines. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Australia.

Observations

The event was observed by astronomers, of which several groups gathered in Sumatra, to watch the eclipse. One was from Germany, one was from the Netherlands, and three were from the United States. A Reuters correspondent gave the total number of astronomers on Sumatra as 50.
The Dutch expedition, in Palambang, was unable to observe the first phase of the eclipse ; the leader of a British expedition in Bencoolen reported that he had "carried out his full program". The Naval Observatory was specifically cited as being set up in Tebing Tinggi, in the southeast of Sumatra. One objective of the observations was to evaluate Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity; cloudy conditions made this difficult. John Miller, head of an expedition from Swarthmore College set up in Bencoolen, is quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer:
That theory, which was advanced a few years ago to support Newton's law of gravitation, has proved difficult to astronomers, since important data bearing upon it can only be gathered during periods of total eclipse of the Sun. The eclipse in January of last year, which was visible in sections of New England, was also a failure in that respect, since atmospheric conditions were not satisfactory for applying the Einstein theory to the test. Special photographic equipment for gathering data on the theory was taken to Sumatra by the Swarthmore scientists, and four playtes wer made during the eclipse, Dr. Miller cabled.



"No authentic statement can be made until after the plates have been developed, but we believe that the ten plates exposed in the great 62-foot camera are not seriously affected; the ones in the shorter cameras may be, but it is not likely. We are apprehensive that the four plates exposed in the fifteen-foot twin-camera for the Einstein effect are damaged. The stars surrounding the sun were rather faint and we fear the thin clouds may have blotted the faint stars out. If this is so the Einstein experiment will have failed."

The Swarthmore team had arrived in November 1925, and taken two months to set up the equipment for the observation. Apart from the relativity experiments, other photographs were taken to better understand the composition of the Sun's corona: "Because of the immense distances from the sun's surface which the corona attains, it has been assumed by astronomers that the corona was not composed of gases as are the 'prominences,' seen nearer the surface. What the composition of the corona may be has not been discovered." While the experiments in Sumatra observed the event nearly unobstructed, others in Manila failed completely, on account of cloudy weather. Australian reports from Melbourne confirmed it was visible there.
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences established a committee in the spring of 1924 and began meeting on April 5, 1924 to discuss observing this eclipse. In the end, the team chose 15 kilometres northwest of Palembang on the island of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, while observation teams from other organizations also went to the city of Bengkulu, located in the west of the island, where the weather condition was predicted slightly better and the totality lasted slightly longer. On November 10, 1925, the team boarded a ship from Marseille, France, transited through Singapore, and arrived in Palembang on December 4. During the approximately 6 weeks of stay in Palembang, the weather was changeable, which surprised the team even though they had learned about the local weather information in advance. On the day of the eclipse, there were light clouds in the sky in the morning. Shortly before noon, the clouds covered the western sky and showers fell half an hour before the 1st contact. The weather improved slightly afterwards, but soon cumulus clouds covered the sun again. Although the sun was visible through the clouds with the naked eye during totality, photographing the solar corona and the spectral observations all failed. On January 16, the team sailed to Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies. Most members stayed in Java Island and Deli in eastern Sumatra for a few days before returning in the Netherlands on February 14. One member observed the southern Milky Way at the Bosscha Observatory in western Java and stayed until May 19.
In Jubaland an Italian expedition was outfitted to observe the Eclipse as well, led by Guido Horn d'Arturo.

In popular culture

The eclipse plays a central role in the Call of Cthulhu campaign 'Masks of Nyarlathotep'.

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.
EventTime
First Penumbral External Contact1926 January 14 at 03:59:05.5 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1926 January 14 at 04:54:54.7 UTC
First Central Line1926 January 14 at 04:55:36.5 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1926 January 14 at 04:56:18.3 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact1926 January 14 at 05:53:59.2 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1926 January 14 at 06:34:55.9 UTC
Greatest Duration1926 January 14 at 06:36:14.0 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1926 January 14 at 06:36:57.7 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1926 January 14 at 06:38:24.8 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact1926 January 14 at 07:19:54.3 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1926 January 14 at 08:17:34.9 UTC
Last Central Line1926 January 14 at 08:18:17.6 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1926 January 14 at 08:19:00.3 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1926 January 14 at 09:14:47.1 UTC

ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude1.04305
Eclipse Obscuration1.08795
Gamma0.19725
Sun Right Ascension19h40m49.1s
Sun Declination-21°25'36.6"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'15.6"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.9"
Moon Right Ascension19h40m45.4s
Moon Declination-21°13'35.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'40.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax1°01'12.6"
ΔT23.9 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.
January 14
Descending node 		January 28
Ascending node
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 130		Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 142

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1926

A total solar eclipse on January 14.

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 130

Inex

Triad