List of solar eclipses in the 20th century

During the 20th century, there were 228 solar eclipses of which 78 were partial, 73 were annular, 71 were total and 6 were hybrids between total and annular eclipses. Of these, two annular and three total eclipses were non-central, in the sense that the very center (axis) of the Moon's shadow will miss the Earth (for more information see gamma). In the 20th century, the greatest number of eclipses in one year is five, in 1935, though the years 1917, 1946, 1964, 1982 and 2000 had four eclipses each. One month, July 2000, featured two solar eclipses, on July 1 and July 31. The predictions given here are by Fred Espenak of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The longest measured duration in which the Moon completely covered the Sun, known as totality, was during the solar eclipse of June 20, 1955. This total solar eclipse had a maximum duration of 7 minutes and 7.74 seconds. The longest possible duration of a total solar eclipse is 7 minutes and 32 seconds. The longest annular solar eclipse of the 20th century took place on December 14, 1955, with a duration of 12 minutes and 9.17 seconds. The maximum possible duration is 12 minutes and 29 seconds. Two instances of back-to-back hybrid solar eclipses within a period of less than six months occurred in the 20th century. The eclipse of June 17, 1909, was the second hybrid eclipse in the span of less than one year, the first one being on December 23, 1908, and the eclipse of March 29, 1987, was the second hybrid eclipse in the span of less than one year, the first one being on October 3, 1986.

The table contains the date and time of the greatest eclipse (in dynamical time), which in this case is the time when the axis of the Moon's shadow cone passes closest to the centre of Earth; this is in (Ephemeris Time). The number of the saros series that the eclipse belongs to is given, followed by the type of the eclipse (either total, annular, partial or hybrid), the gamma of the eclipse (how centrally the shadow of the Moon strikes the Earth), and the magnitude of the eclipse (the fraction of the Sun's diameter obscured by the Moon). For total and annular eclipses, the duration of the eclipse is given, as well as the location of the greatest eclipse (the point of maximum eclipse) and the path width of the total or annular eclipse. The geographical areas from which the eclipse can be seen are listed along with a chart illustrating each eclipse's respective path.

Notable eclipses of the 20th century May 29, 1919: this total eclipse was photographed by Arthur Eddington to verify general relativity (see Eddington experiment)F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington, and C. Davidson, "A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical or Physical Character (1920): 291–333, on 332. June 20, 1955: longest total eclipse between 1901 and 2000, lasting a maximum of 7 minutes and 8 seconds June 30, 1973: a Concorde jet flew along the path, thereby extending the length of totality to 74 min. March 29, 1987: second hybrid eclipse in less than one year, the first being on October 3, 1986. July 11, 1991: solar eclipse with the shortest gamma, of only −0.00412. July 31, 2000: the second solar eclipse within one calendar month, the first being on July 1, 2000.

Eclipses

Date Time ofgreatest eclipse(Terrestrial Time) Saros Type Gamma Magnitude Centralduration(min:s) Location Path width Geographical area Chart Ref(s) km mi May 18, 1901 5:33:48 136 Total −0.3626 1.068 Total: French Madagascar, Réunion, British Mauritius, Dutch East Indies and British New Guinea Partial: East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, Western Oceania November 11, 1901 7:28:21 141 Annular 0.4758 0.9216 Annular: Sicily, British Malta, Ottoman Tripolitania, Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Emirate of Jabal Shammar, Aden Protectorate, Muscat and Oman, British Raj, British Ceylon, Siam, French Indochina, Bombay Reef in the Paracel Islands and Philippines Partial: North Africa, East Africa, Asia, Northern Australia April 8, 1902 14:05:06 108 Partial 1.5024 0.0643 — — Partial: Northern Canada May 7, 1902 22:34:16 146 Partial −1.0831 0.8593 — — Partial: Eastern Oceania October 31, 1902 8:00:18 151 Partial 1.1556 0.696 — — Partial: Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Northern Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, North Asia March 29, 1903 1:35:23 118 Annular 0.8413 0.9767 Annular: China, Russia and Northern Canada Partial: Southeast Asia, East Asia, North Asia, Alaska, Northwestern North America September 21, 1903 4:39:52 123 Total −0.8967 1.0316 Total: Antarctica Partial: Southeast Africa, Southern Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica March 17, 1904 5:40:44 128 Annular 0.1299 0.9367 Annular: German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, Grande Comore Island, British Seychelles, Sumatra, Siam, French Indochina, the Paracel Islands and the American Philippines Partial: East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia September 9, 1904 20:44:21 133 Total −0.1625 1.0709 Total: German New Guinea and Chile Partial: Oceania, Western South America March 6, 1905 5:12:26 138 Annular −0.5768 0.9269 Annular: Australia, New Caledonia and New Hebrides Partial: Madagascar, Antarctica, Australia, Oceania August 30, 1905 13:07:26 143 Total 0.5708 1.0477 Total: Canada, Spain, French Algeria, French Tunisia, Ottoman Tripolitania, Egypt, Ottoman Empire, Aden Protectorate and Muscat and Oman Partial: Eastern North America, Europe, North Africa, Central Africa, West Asia February 23, 1906 7:43:20 148 Partial −1.2479 0.5386 — — Partial: Antarctica, Southern Australia July 21, 1906 13:14:19 115 Partial −1.3637 0.3355 — — Partial: Argentina and Chile August 20, 1906 1:12:50 153 Partial 1.3731 0.3147 — — Partial: Northern Russia, Alaska, Western Canada, Pacific Northwest January 14, 1907 6:05:43 120 Total 0.8628 1.0281 Total: Russian Empire and China Partial: Asia July 10, 1907 15:24:32 125 Annular −0.6313 0.9456 Annular: Chile, Bolivia and Brazil Partial: South America, Southern Central America January 3, 1908 21:45:22 130 Total 0.1934 1.0437 Total: Line and Phoenix Islands and Costa Rica Partial: Northern Oceania, Hawaii, Southern North America, Central America, Western Caribbean, Western South America June 28, 1908 16:29:51 135 Annular 0.1389 0.9655 Annular: Mexico, Florida, Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan, Upper Volta and British Gold Coast Partial: Northern South America, North America, Caribbean, West Africa, North Africa, Western Europe December 23, 1908 11:44:28 140 Hybrid −0.4985 1.0024 Annular: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil Partial: South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa June 17, 1909 23:18:38 145 Hybrid 0.8957 1.0065 Total: Russia, Ellesmere Island and Greenland Partial: East Asia, Northern North America December 12, 1909 19:44:48 150 Partial −1.2456 0.5424 — — Partial: Antarctica, New Zealand May 9, 1910 5:42:13 117 Total −0.9437 1.06 Total: Wilkes Land and Tasmania Partial: Antarctica, Australia, Southeast Asia November 2, 1910 2:08:32 122 Partial 1.0603 0.8515 — — Partial: Northeast Asia, Alaska, Hawaii April 28, 1911 22:27:22 127 Total −0.2294 1.0562 Total: Australia, Tonga, American Samoa and Cook Islands Partial: Oceania, Southern North America, Central America, Western Caribbean October 22, 1911 4:13:02 132 Annular 0.3224 0.965 Annular: Russian Empire, China, French Indochina, Papua, Solomon and Ellice Islands Partial: South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia, Oceania April 17, 1912 11:34:22 137 Hybrid 0.528 1.0003 Total: Portugal and Spain Annular: Venezuela, Brazil, British Guyana, Dutch Guiana, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Russian Empire Partial: Eastern South America, Eastern North America, West Africa, Europe, West Asia October 10, 1912 13:36:14 142 Total −0.4149 1.0229 Total: Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Brazil Partial: Central America, Caribbean, South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa April 6, 1913 17:33:07 147 Partial 1.3147 0.4244 — — Partial: Eastern Russia, Northwestern North America August 31, 1913 20:52:12 114 Partial 1.4512 0.1513 — — Partial: Eastern Canada, Greenland September 30, 1913 4:45:49 152 Partial −1.1005 0.8252 — — Partial: Southern Africa, Antarctica February 25, 1914 0:13:01 119 Annular −0.9416 0.9248 Annular: Antarctica Partial: Antarctica, New Zealand, Southern South America August 21, 1914 12:34:27 124 Total 0.7655 1.0328 Total: Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire, Persia and British Raj Partial: Northeast North America, Europe, North Africa, East Africa, Middle East February 14, 1915 4:33:20 129 Annular −0.2024 0.9789 Annular: Australia, Papua and German New Guinea Partial: Antarctica, Australia, Oceania, Southeast Asia August 10, 1915 22:52:25 134 Annular 0.0124 0.9853 Annular: Pacific Ocean Partial: Northeast Asia, Northern Oceania, Hawaii February 3, 1916 16:00:21 139 Total 0.4987 1.028 Total: Colombia, Venezuela, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy Partial: North America, Central America, Northern South America, Northwest Africa, Western Europe July 30, 1916 2:06:10 144 Annular −0.7709 0.9447 Annular: Australia Partial: Southeast Asia, Australia, Oceania, Antarctica December 24, 1916 20:46:22 111 Partial −1.5321 0.0114 — — Partial: Antarctica January 23, 1917 7:28:31 149 Partial 1.1508 0.7254 — — Partial: Northeast Africa, Europe, West Asia, Central Asia June 19, 1917 13:16:21 116 Partial 1.2857 0.4729 — — Partial: Northern North America, Northern Europe, North Asia July 19, 1917 2:42:42 154 Partial −1.5101 0.0863 — — Partial: Antarctica December 14, 1917 9:27:20 121 Annular −0.9157 0.9791 Annular: Antarctica Partial: Antarctica, Southern South America, Australia June 8, 1918 22:07:43 126 Total 0.4658 1.0292 Total: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida Partial: Northeast Asia, North America December 3, 1918 15:22:02 131 Annular −0.2387 0.9383 Annular: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, South West Africa and Portuguese Angola Partial: South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, Central Africa May 29, 1919 13:08:55 136 Total −0.2955 1.0719 Total: Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Principe, Río Muni, French Equatorial Africa, Belgian Congo, Rhodesia, German East Africa, Nyasaland and Mozambique Partial: South America, Africa November 22, 1919 15:14:12 141 Annular 0.4549 0.9198 Annular: Texas, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, the Gambia, Senegal, French Guinea, Mauritania, French Sudan Partial: North America, Caribbean, Northern South America, West Africa, Western Europe May 18, 1920 6:14:55 146 Partial −1.0239 0.9734 — — Partial: Australia, Antarctica November 10, 1920 15:52:15 151 Partial 1.1287 0.742 — — Partial: Canada, United States, Northwest Africa, Western Europe April 8, 1921 9:15:01 118 Annular 0.8869 0.9753 Annular: Scotland, Norway Partial: North Africa, Europe, Central Asia, Russian SFSR October 1, 1921 12:35:58 123 Total −0.9383 1.0293 Total: Antarctica Partial: South America, Antarctica March 28, 1922 13:05:26 128 Annular 0.1711 0.9381 Annular: Peru, Brazil, French West Africa, British Gambia, French Algeria, Italian Libya, Egypt, Kingdom of Hejaz and Sultanate of Nejd, and British Kuwait Partial: South America, Caribbean, North Africa, Central Africa, Europe, Middle East September 21, 1922 4:40:31 133 Total −0.213 1.0678 Total: Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland and Australia Partial: East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, Oceania March 17, 1923 12:44:58 138 Annular −0.5438 0.931 Annular: Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands, South West Africa, Bechuanaland Protectorate, Southern Rhodesia, Portuguese Mozambique, Nyasaland and French Madagascar