Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919

Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919

From the report of Sir Arthur Eddington on the expedition to the island of Principe (off the west coast of Africa).
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature Total
Gamma -0.2955
Magnitude 1.0719
Maximum eclipse
Duration 411 sec (6 m 51 s)
Coordinates 4°24′N 16°42′W / 4.4°N 16.7°W / 4.4; -16.7
Max. width of band 244 km (152 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse 13:08:55
References
Saros 136 (32 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000) 9326

A total solar eclipse occurred on May 29, 1919. With a maximum duration of totality of 6 minutes 51 seconds, it was one of the longest solar eclipses of the 20th century. It was visible throughout most of South America and Africa as a partial eclipse. Totality occurred through a narrow path across central Brazil after sunrise, across the Atlantic ocean and into south central Africa ending near sunset in eastern Africa.

Observations

Total solar eclipse of May 29-1919, as emulated by program Celestia version 1.5.1 under KDE 3.5.10 release 21.13.1, operating system SuSe Linux 11.1. All systems under free licence (GPL).

This eclipse was photographed from the expedition of Sir Arthur Eddington to the island of Principe (off the west coast of Africa). Positions of star images within the field near the Sun were used to test Albert Einstein's prediction of the bending of light around the Sun from his general theory of relativity. The stars which Eddington's expedition observed were in the constellation Taurus.[1]

Solar eclipses 1916–1920

Each member in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1916-1920
Ascending node   Descending node
111December 24, 1916

Partial		 116June 19, 1917

Partial
121December 14, 1917

Annular		 126June 8, 1918

Total
131December 3, 1918

Annular		 136May 29, 1919

Total
141November 22, 1919

Annular		 146May 18, 1920

Partial
151November 10, 1920

Partial

Saros 136

Solar Saros 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, contains 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on Jun 14, 1360, and reached a first annular eclipse on September 8, 1504. It was a hybrid event from November 22, 1612, through January 17, 1703, and total eclipses from January 27, 1721 through May 13, 2496. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622, with the entire series lasting 1262 years. The longest eclipse occurred on June 20, 1955, with a maximum duration of totality at 7 minutes, 8 seconds.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington, and C. Davidson (1920). "A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919" (PDF). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. CCXX-A 579: 291–333. doi:10.1098/rsta.1920.0009.
  2. ↑ SEsaros136 at NASA.gov

References

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