An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, September 1, 1951, with a magnitude of 0.9747. 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 5.4 days after apogee (on August 27, 1951, at 3:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia in the United States, Spanish Sahara (today's West Sahara), French West Africa (the parts now belonging to Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast), British Gold Coast (today's Ghana), southern tip of French Equatorial Africa (the part now belonging to R. Congo), Belgian Congo (today's DR Congo), Northern Rhodesia (today's Zambia), Portuguese Mozambique (today's Mozambique), Nyasaland (today's Malawi), and French Madagascar (the part now belonging to Madagascar). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of eastern North America, the Caribbean, northern South America, Europe, and Africa.
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.
+September 1, 1951 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1951 September 1 at 09:54:58.5 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1951 September 1 at 10:57:51.5 UTC First Central Line 1951 September 1 at 10:59:13.3 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1951 September 1 at 11:00:35.1 UTC Greatest Duration 1951 September 1 at 11:26:30.5 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1951 September 1 at 12:04:50.8 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1951 September 1 at 12:42:32.1 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1951 September 1 at 12:50:04.3 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1951 September 1 at 12:51:51.1 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1951 September 1 at 13:39:05.6 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1951 September 1 at 14:43:15.0 UTC Last Central Line 1951 September 1 at 14:44:34.0 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1951 September 1 at 14:45:53.0 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1951 September 1 at 15:48:41.5 UTC
+September 1, 1951 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.97473 Eclipse Obscuration 0.95011 Gamma 0.15570 Sun Right Ascension 10h39m41.0s Sun Declination +08°28'11.5" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'50.9" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 10h39m57.2s Moon Declination +08°35'52.2" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'12.7" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°55'49.8" ΔT 29.8 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 August–September 1951 August 17Ascending node (full moon) September 1Descending node (new moon) September 15Ascending node (full moon) Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 108 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 134 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 146
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1951 A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 21. An annular solar eclipse on March 7. A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 23. A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 17. An annular solar eclipse on September 1. A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 15.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1947 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 20, 1955
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1944 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 12, 1958
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 26, 1942 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 5, 1960
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 1, 1940 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 31, 1962
Solar Saros 134 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 21, 1933 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 11, 1969
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 21, 1922 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 10, 1980
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 30, 1864 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 2, 2038
Solar eclipses of 1950–1953
Saros 134
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References
Further reading