An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 20, 1952, with a magnitude of 0.942. 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 1.2 days after apogee (on August 19, 1952, at 12:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from Peru including the capital city Lima, northeastern Chile, Bolivia including the constitutional capital Sucre and seat of government La Paz, Argentina, Paraguay, southern Brazil and Uruguay. A partial eclipse was visible for most of Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.
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.
+August 20, 1952 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1952 August 20 at 12:22:27.8 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1952 August 20 at 13:36:36.8 UTC First Central Line 1952 August 20 at 13:39:39.7 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1952 August 20 at 13:42:44.8 UTC Greatest Duration 1952 August 20 at 15:00:09.1 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1952 August 20 at 15:13:35.2 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1952 August 20 at 15:20:50.2 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1952 August 20 at 15:48:35.8 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1952 August 20 at 16:44:03.7 UTC Last Central Line 1952 August 20 at 16:47:08.7 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1952 August 20 at 16:50:11.3 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1952 August 20 at 18:04:27.3 UTC
+August 20, 1952 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.94203 Eclipse Obscuration 0.88742 Gamma −0.61023 Sun Right Ascension 09h58m50.8s Sun Declination +12°20'20.6" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'48.6" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 09h57m52.3s Moon Declination +11°50'44.7" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'43.1" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'01.0" ΔT 30.2 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.
+ Eclipse season of August 1952 August 5Ascending node (full moon) August 20Descending node (new moon) Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 118 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 144
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1952 A partial lunar eclipse on February 11. A total solar eclipse on February 25. A partial lunar eclipse on August 5. An annular solar eclipse on August 20.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 1, 1948 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 8, 1956
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 9, 1945 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 2, 1959
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 15, 1943 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 26, 1961
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 21, 1941 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1963
Solar Saros 144 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 10, 1934 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 31, 1970
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 10, 1923 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 31, 1981
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 19, 1865 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2039
Solar eclipses of 1950–1953
Saros 144
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References