A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, August 21, 1914, with a magnitude of 1.0328. 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. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 2.7 days before perigee (on August 24, 1914, at 6:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The totality of this eclipse was visible from northern Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Russian Empire (the parts now belonging to Åland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, including cities of Riga, Minsk, Kiev and northeastern part of Vilnius), Ottoman Empire (the parts now belonging to Turkey, northeastern tip of Syria and northern Iraq), Persia and British Raj (the parts now belonging to Pakistan and western tip of India). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of northeast North America, Europe, North Africa, East Africa, and the Middle East. It was the first of four total solar eclipses that would be seen from Sweden during the next 40 years. This total solar eclipse occurred in the same calendar date as 2017, but at the opposite node.
Several astronomers were setting up to observe the eclipse, in part as an attempt to confirm Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. However, due to the onset of World War I as well as cloud cover, these experiments were unsuccessful.
Observations A number of observatories sent expeditions to Russia to observe the eclipse including those from Argentina, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and the United States. The expeditions led by Charles Dillon Perrine of the Argentine National Observatory, Erwin Finlay-Freundlich of the Berlin-Babelsberg Observatory, Germany, and William W. Campbell of the Lick Observatory, California, included in their programs the second attempt to verify the general relativity theory of Albert Einstein. (Perrine had made the first attempt at the 1912 solar eclipse in Brazil.) However, World War I broke out and Freundlich and his equipment were interned in Russia, unable to carry out the necessary measurements. C. D. Perrine and W. W. Campbell, from neutral countries, Argentina and the United States, were permitted to continue with their plans, but clouds obscured the eclipse. Perrine was able to obtain one photograph of the eclipse but the thin cloud cover was enough to obscure star locations necessary to test Einstein's theory.
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 21, 1914 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1914 August 21 at 10:12:09.6 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1914 August 21 at 11:25:24.7 UTC First Central Line 1914 August 21 at 11:26:20.7 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1914 August 21 at 11:27:17.1 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1914 August 21 at 11:55:06.4 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1914 August 21 at 12:26:24.1 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1914 August 21 at 12:34:27.1 UTC Greatest Duration 1914 August 21 at 12:34:52.8 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1914 August 21 at 13:41:59.4 UTC Last Central Line 1914 August 21 at 13:42:58.0 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1914 August 21 at 13:43:56.1 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1914 August 21 at 14:56:55.9 UTC
+August 21, 1914 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.03276 Eclipse Obscuration 1.06658 Gamma 0.76546 Sun Right Ascension 09h59m08.5s Sun Declination +12°18'56.8" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'48.7" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 10h00m29.2s Moon Declination +12°59'43.6" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'09.7" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°59'18.8" ΔT 16.7 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–September 1914 August 21Descending node (new moon) September 4Ascending node (full moon) Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 124 Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 136
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1914 An annular solar eclipse on February 25. A partial lunar eclipse on March 12. A total solar eclipse on August 21. A partial lunar eclipse on September 4.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 2, 1910 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 8, 1918
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 10, 1907 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 1, 1921
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 15, 1905 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 26, 1923
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 21, 1903 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1925
Solar Saros 124 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 9, 1896 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 31, 1932
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 8, 1885 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 1, 1943
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 20, 1827 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2001
Solar eclipses of 1913–1917
Saros 124
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
References
Solar eclipse of August 21, 1914 in Russia (Russian)