Solar eclipse of May 18, 1901

Solar eclipse of May 18, 1901
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	−0.3626
Magnitude	1.068
Maximum eclipse
Duration	389 s (6 min 29 s)
Coordinates	1°42′S98°24′E / 1.7°S 98.4°E / -1.7; 98.4
Max. width of band	238 km (148 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	5:33:48
References
Saros	136 (31 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9283

A total solar eclipse occurred on May 18, 1901. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} 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. The path of totality crossed French Madagascar (the part now belonging to Madagascar), Réunion, British Mauritius (now Mauritius), Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), and British New Guinea (now belonging to Papua New Guinea).

Observations

The Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society observed the total eclipse in Padang on the west coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. The weather was good after sunrise on May 18, but clouds gradually increased after the start of the eclipse. During the total phase, clouds continued to cover the sun and tended to become thicker, making it increasingly difficult to see the sun through the clouds ^[5] . A team from Lick Observatory, California also observed it in Padang ^[6] .

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 1901–1902

This eclipse is a member of the 1898–1902 solar eclipse semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1898 to 1902
Ascending node			Descending node
111	December 13, 1898 Partial		116	June 8, 1899 Partial
121	December 3, 1899 Annular		126	May 28, 1900 Total
131	November 22, 1900 Annular		136	May 18, 1901 Total
141	November 11, 1901 Annular		146	May 7, 1902 Partial
151	October 31, 1902 Partial

Saros 136

Solar Saros 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, contains 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on June 14, 1360, and reached a first annular eclipse on September 8, 1504. It was a hybrid event from November 22, 1612, through January 17, 1703, and total eclipses from January 27, 1721, through May 13, 2496. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622, with the entire series lasting 1262 years. The longest eclipse occurred on June 20, 1955, with a maximum duration of totality at 7 minutes, 7.74 seconds. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon's descending node. ^[7]

Series members 29–43 occur between 1865 and 2117
29	30	31
Apr 25, 1865	May 6, 1883	May 18, 1901
32	33	34
May 29, 1919	Jun 8, 1937	Jun 20, 1955
35	36	37
Jun 30, 1973	Jul 11, 1991	Jul 22, 2009
38	39	40
Aug 2, 2027	Aug 12, 2045	Aug 24, 2063
41	42	43
Sep 3, 2081	Sep 14, 2099	Sep 26, 2117

Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Inex series members between 1901 and 2100:
May 18, 1901 (Saros 136)	April 28, 1930 (Saros 137)	April 8, 1959 (Saros 138)
March 18, 1988 (Saros 139)	February 26, 2017 (Saros 140)	February 5, 2046 (Saros 141)
January 16, 2075 (Saros 142)

Notes

1. "Viewing the solar eclipse: Many of America's astronomers now on the other side of the globe". The Atchison Daily Globe. Atchison, Kansas. 1901-05-17. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-10-27– via Newspapers.com.
2. "The sun eclipsed: On the whole astronomers have been disappointed". The Fresno Morning Republican. Fresno, California. 1901-05-19. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-10-27– via Newspapers.com.
3. "The Eclipse of the Sun". Daily News Advertiser. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 1901-05-19. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-10-27– via Newspapers.com.
4. "What is the solar corona?". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. 1901-11-10. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-10-27– via Newspapers.com.
5. H. F. Newall (1901–1902). "Total Solar Eclipse of 1901, May 17-18. Preliminary Report of the Observations Made at Ayer Karoe, Sawah Loento, Sumatra". Royal Society. pp. 209–234. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020.
6. C. D. Perrine (1 December 1901). "THE LICK OBSERVATORY-CROCKER EXPEDITION TO OBSERVE THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 1901, MAY 17-18". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific: 187–204. ISSN   0004-6280.
7. SEsaros136 at NASA.gov

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements
• Photo of Solar Corona May 18, 1901
• Eclipse of May 18, 1901 (Sumatra). Contact print from the original glass plate negative. Lick Observatory Plate Archive, Mt. Hamilton.
• Total Eclipse of the Sun, May 18, 1901 Reports on the Dutch Expedition to Karang Sago, Sumatra, by Dr. A. A. Nijland, March 1903, Utrecht, Published by the Eclipse Committee of the Royal Academy, Amsterdam
• Russia expedition for solar eclipse of May 18, 1901