Solar eclipse of October 1, 1940


A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, October 1, 1940, with a magnitude of 1.0645. 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. 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 4 hours before perigee, the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
Totality was visible from Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and South Africa. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the Caribbean, South America, Central Africa, and Southern Africa.

Observation

Members of the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society made observations in Brazil with interferometers and spectrometers. Teams of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich and Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope went to Calvinia, South Africa to study the gravitational lens proposed by the general relativity. Other scientists went to the edge of the path of totality to study the spectral lines of the solar chromosphere. A joint team of the Heliophysical Observatory of the University of Cambridge and the Radcliffe Observatory in Pretoria, South Africa went to Nelspoort to study the extreme ultraviolet spectrum of the chromosphere and corona, and conducted polarization studies of the corona and sky around the sun.

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 Contact1940 October 1 at 10:08:37.5 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1940 October 1 at 11:03:28.3 UTC
First Central Line1940 October 1 at 11:04:45.3 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1940 October 1 at 11:06:02.4 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact1940 October 1 at 12:04:11.7 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1940 October 1 at 12:41:28.7 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1940 October 1 at 12:44:06.1 UTC
Greatest Duration1940 October 1 at 12:45:03.9 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1940 October 1 at 12:52:28.6 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact1940 October 1 at 13:23:47.3 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1940 October 1 at 14:22:03.5 UTC
Last Central Line1940 October 1 at 14:23:20.8 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1940 October 1 at 14:24:38.0 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1940 October 1 at 15:19:30.5 UTC

ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude1.06446
Eclipse Obscuration1.13307
Gamma−0.25727
Sun Right Ascension12h30m03.1s
Sun Declination-03°14'42.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'58.8"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension12h29m44.0s
Moon Declination-03°29'44.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'43.8"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax1°01'24.1"
ΔT24.7 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.
October 1
Ascending node 		October 16
Descending node
Total solar eclipse
Solar Saros 133		Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 145

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1940

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 133

Inex

Triad

Inex series