Solar eclipse of March 17, 1904


An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, March 17, 1904, with a magnitude of 0.9367. 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 about 3 days after apogee, the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
The path of annularity covered southern German East Africa, northeastern tip of Portuguese East Africa, northern Grande Comore Island in French Comoros, southern British Seychelles, Archipelago of Agaléga which is located far away from the main island of British Mauritius, most of the British Indian Ocean Territory, northwestern Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, southern Siam, French Indochina, all of the Paracel Islands, the northern tip of the American Philippines and Japanese remote islands of Iwo Jima, South Iwo Jima and Minamitorishima.
In addition, a partial solar eclipse was seen within a much larger area, including the eastern half of Africa, southern West Asia, southern Afghanistan, South Asia except the northernmost tip of British Raj, most of China except the northwest border, Korean Peninsula, Japan, Southeast Asia, the extreme northern coast of Australia, northwestern Melanesia, central and western Micronesia, and southeastern Russian Empire.

Observations

N. Donitch of the Royal Russian Academy of Sciences traveled to Phnom Penh via Saigon in French Indochina and made observations there. The weather was clear on the eclipse day, with only some fog in the morning. Donitch used a spectrometer and recorded changes in the temperature in about 2.5 hours, which dropped for about 3 °C.

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 Contact1904 March 17 at 02:36:24.1 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1904 March 17 at 03:41:08.2 UTC
First Central Line1904 March 17 at 03:43:53.3 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1904 March 17 at 03:46:38.6 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact1904 March 17 at 04:52:21.2 UTC
Greatest Duration1904 March 17 at 05:37:38.0 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1904 March 17 at 05:39:11.3 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1904 March 17 at 05:40:44.1 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1904 March 17 at 05:45:36.1 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact1904 March 17 at 06:28:59.4 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1904 March 17 at 07:34:47.3 UTC
Last Central Line1904 March 17 at 07:37:30.8 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1904 March 17 at 07:40:14.2 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1904 March 17 at 08:44:57.8 UTC

ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.93675
Eclipse Obscuration0.87751
Gamma0.12993
Sun Right Ascension23h46m07.3s
Sun Declination-01°30'13.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'04.1"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension23h45m58.8s
Moon Declination-01°23'30.5"
Moon Semi-Diameter14'49.6"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°54'24.9"
ΔT2.9 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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
March 2
Ascending node 		March 17
Descending node 		March 31
Ascending node
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 102		Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 128		Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 140

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1904

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 128

Inex

Triad