An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, March 17, 1923, with a magnitude of 0.931. 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 1.7 days before apogee (on March 19, 1923, at 20:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands including capital Stanley, Gough Island in Tristan da Cunha, South West Africa (today's Namibia), Bechuanaland Protectorate (today's Botswana, Southern Rhodesia (today's Zimbabwe) including capital Salisbury, Portuguese Mozambique (today's Mozambique), Nyasaland (today's Malawi), French Madagascar (the part now belonging to Madagascar, and the Islands of Juan de Nova and Tromelin). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern South America, Southern Africa, Central Africa, and Antarctica.
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.
+March 17, 1923 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1923 March 17 at 09:50:46.8 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1923 March 17 at 11:02:32.4 UTC First Central Line 1923 March 17 at 11:05:55.6 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1923 March 17 at 11:09:20.9 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1923 March 17 at 12:24:30.3 UTC Greatest Duration 1923 March 17 at 12:44:57.5 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1923 March 17 at 12:44:57.7 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1923 March 17 at 12:51:27.3 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1923 March 17 at 14:20:49.0 UTC Last Central Line 1923 March 17 at 14:24:15.1 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1923 March 17 at 14:27:39.2 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1923 March 17 at 15:39:20.9 UTC
+March 17, 1923 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.93100 Eclipse Obscuration 0.86676 Gamma −0.54381 Sun Right Ascension 23h44m59.2s Sun Declination -01°37'34.5" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'04.2" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 23h45m34.9s Moon Declination -02°05'35.9" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'46.5" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'13.4" ΔT 23.1 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 March 1923 March 3Ascending node (full moon) March 17Descending node (new moon) Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 112 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 138
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1923 A partial lunar eclipse on March 3. An annular solar eclipse on March 17. A partial lunar eclipse on August 26. A total solar eclipse on September 10.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1927
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 3, 1916 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 28, 1930
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 12, 1914 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 22, 1932
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1912 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1934
Solar Saros 138 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 6, 1905 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 27, 1941
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 6, 1894 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 25, 1952
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 15, 1836 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 15, 2010
Solar eclipses of 1921–1924
Saros 138
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References