An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, July 31, 1962, with a magnitude of 0.9716. 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 (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 4.75 days before apogee (on August 5, 1962, at 6:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Places inside the annular eclipse included Venezuela, northern Roraima in Brazil, British Guiana (today's Guyana), Dutch Guiana (today's Suriname) including the capital city Paramaribo, Senegal, Gambia Colony and Protectorate (today's Gambia) including the southern part of the capital city Banjul, Mali including the capital city Bamako, Upper Volta (today's Burkina Faso), Ghana, Togo, Dahomey (today's Benin), Nigeria, Cameroon including the capital city Yaoundé, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Léopoldville (today's DR Congo), Tanganyika (now belonging to Tanzania), northeastern tip of Portuguese Mozambique (today's Mozambique), French Comoros (today's Comoros), Mayotte, and the Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). The greatest eclipse was in the area of Kouoro, Mali at 12 N, 5.7 W at 12:25 (UTC) and lasted for 3 minutes. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the Caribbean, northern South America, Africa, Southern Europe, and the Middle East.
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.
+July 31, 1962 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1962 July 31 at 09:26:25.2 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1962 July 31 at 10:29:36.6 UTC First Central Line 1962 July 31 at 10:31:02.3 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1962 July 31 at 10:32:28.1 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1962 July 31 at 11:36:22.9 UTC Greatest Duration 1962 July 31 at 12:19:39.3 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1962 July 31 at 12:24:14.3 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1962 July 31 at 12:25:32.5 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1962 July 31 at 12:27:38.6 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1962 July 31 at 13:14:37.8 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1962 July 31 at 14:18:33.6 UTC Last Central Line 1962 July 31 at 14:20:01.9 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1962 July 31 at 14:21:30.3 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1962 July 31 at 15:24:44.6 UTC
+July 31, 1962 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.97158 Eclipse Obscuration 0.94397 Gamma −0.11296 Sun Right Ascension 08h40m53.9s Sun Declination +18°19'06.7" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'45.4" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 08h40m49.8s Moon Declination +18°12'57.5" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'04.6" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°55'19.7" ΔT 34.3 s
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) 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.
+ Eclipse season of July–August 1962 July 17Descending node (full moon) July 31Ascending node (new moon) August 15Descending node (full moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 109 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 135 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 147
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1962 A total solar eclipse on February 5. A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 19. A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 17. An annular solar eclipse on July 31. A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 15.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 12, 1958 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 1966
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 20, 1955 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 11, 1969
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 26, 1953 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 1971
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 1, 1951 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1973
Solar Saros 135 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1944 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 10, 1980
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 21, 1933 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 29, 1875 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 31, 2049
Solar eclipses of 1961–1964
Saros 135
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References