An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, December 3, 1918, with a magnitude of 0.9383. 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 4.3 days after apogee (on November 29, 1918, at 7:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from Chile including the capital city Santiago, Argentina including capital Buenos Aires, southern Uruguay including capital Montevideo, northeastern tip of South West Africa (today's Namibia) and southwestern Portuguese Angola (today's Angola). Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside Asia, also lies in the path of annularity. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of South America, Antarctica, Southern Africa, and Central 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.
+December 3, 1918 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1918 December 03 at 12:21:26.8 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1918 December 03 at 13:26:14.8 UTC First Central Line 1918 December 03 at 13:28:57.9 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1918 December 03 at 13:31:41.2 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1918 December 03 at 14:40:20.1 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1918 December 03 at 15:19:13.2 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1918 December 03 at 15:22:01.5 UTC Greatest Duration 1918 December 03 at 15:22:11.4 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1918 December 03 at 15:23:11.5 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1918 December 03 at 16:03:41.9 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1918 December 03 at 17:12:22.6 UTC Last Central Line 1918 December 03 at 17:15:03.6 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1918 December 03 at 17:17:44.3 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1918 December 03 at 18:22:30.4 UTC
+December 3, 1918 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.93826 Eclipse Obscuration 0.88034 Gamma −0.23873 Sun Right Ascension 16h36m17.1s Sun Declination -22°03'17.1" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'13.6" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 16h36m14.8s Moon Declination -22°16'22.8" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'00.0" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°55'03.1" ΔT 20.9 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 December 1918 December 3Ascending node (new moon) December 17Descending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 131 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 143
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1918 A total solar eclipse on June 8. A partial lunar eclipse on June 24. An annular solar eclipse on December 3. A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 17.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1915 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 21, 1922
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 22, 1911 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1926
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 27, 1909 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1927
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1908 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 1, 1929
Solar Saros 131 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 22, 1900 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 13, 1936
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 22, 1889 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1947
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1832 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 3, 2005
Solar eclipses of 1916–1920
Saros 131
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References