Solar eclipse of April 17, 1912

Solar eclipse of April 17, 1912
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Hybrid
Gamma	0.528
Magnitude	1.0003
Maximum eclipse
Duration	2 s (0 min 2 s)
Coordinates	38°24′N11°18′W / 38.4°N 11.3°W / 38.4; -11.3
Max. width of band	1 km (0.62 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	11:34:22
References
Saros	137 (30 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9308

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Wednesday, April 17, 1912 (Gregorian Calendar) (April 4, 1912 in Julian Calendar, Russia, Turkey, and Balkans). ^{[1] [2]} It was a hybrid event, starting and ending as an annular eclipse, with only a small portion of totality (only 1.3 km (0.808 mi or 4,265 feet) wide). 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.

Annularity was first visible from southeastern tip of Venezuela, northern tip of Brazil, British Guyana (today's Guyana), Dutch Guiana (today's Suriname) and Porto Santo Island in Madeira, Portugal, then totality from Portugal and Spain, with annularity continued northeast across France (including northwestern suburbs of Paris), Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Russian Empire (the parts now belonging to northern Latvia, southern Estonia and Russia). Occurring 7.4 days after apogee (Apogee on April 10, 1912) and only 5.5 days before perigee (Perigee on April 22, 1912), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

It was the 30th eclipse of the 137th Saros cycle, which began with a partial eclipse on May 25, 1389, and will conclude with a partial eclipse on June 28, 2633. This eclipse occurred two days after the RMS Titanic sank in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean under the darkness of new moon. ^[3]

Observations

The Observatory of Paris had the Globule balloon aloft for the 17 April 1912 hybrid eclipse, reported by Camille Flammarion. [4]

The Le Petit Journal cover, on 1912 April 21, shows eclipse watchers in 1912 along with the solar eclipse of May 22, 1724, the previous total solar eclipse visible from Paris, France [5]

The 1 May 1912 edition of the luso-Brazilian Brasil-Portugal magazine publishes photographs of the eclipse, as it was seen in Lisbon. An editorial says: "One can tell, on that moment, the mathematical regularity that presides over everything that goes on above and the considerable achievements that the oldest of sciences — Astronomy — has been meeting. While some, strong spirits, point out the fact and point out how precise are scientific calculi, the others, believers, consider that what we can grasp is still too little and, not being able to conceive a Creation without a Creator, pay homage to science but continue to kneel before God. The reader can judge the interest that the phenomenon sparked among us by himself though the photographs that follow, where one can see it all; the wise and the godless, the noble and the commoners, women and men, everyone paid no attention to earthly matters and, for a moment, observed with better or worse instruments what was going on up above. It was even a momentaneous rest for politics."

During a hybrid solar eclipse, the apex of the moon's umbral cone was very close to the Earth's surface, and the magnitude was very large. The edges of the moon and the sun were very close to each other as seen from the Earth in both the total and annular portion of the path. A series of Baily's beads on the lunar limb provided an excellent opportunity to measure the size and shape of the Earth, as well as the mountains and valleys on the lunar limb. Measurements were made in Europe to locate precisely the limits of the umbral shadow by spreading people every 100 metres along a straight road. ^[6]

The hybrid solar eclipse of April 28, 1930, also belonging to Solar Saros 137, also occurred with a magnitude close to 1. Similar observations were made near Camptonville, California. Such observations were also made during two later annular solar eclipses of May 9, 1948 in Rebun Island, Japan and May 20, 1966 in Greece and Turkey, also belonging to the same solar Saros cycle. Similar measurements were also done in New York City during the total solar eclipse of January 24, 1925, which did not belong to the same Saros cycle 137 had a magnitude much larger than 1. ^[6]

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 1910–1913

This eclipse is a member of a 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. ^[7]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1910 to 1913
Ascending node			Descending node
117	May 9, 1910 Total		122	November 2, 1910 Partial
127	April 28, 1911 Total		132	October 22, 1911 Annular
137	April 17, 1912 Hybrid		142	October 10, 1912 Total
147	April 6, 1913 Partial		152	September 30, 1913 Partial

Saros 137

It is a part of Saros cycle 137, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 25, 1389. It contains total eclipses from August 20, 1533, through December 6, 1695, first set of hybrid eclipses from December 17, 1713, through February 11, 1804, first set of annular eclipses from February 21, 1822, through March 25, 1876, second set of hybrid eclipses from April 6, 1894, through April 28, 1930, and second set of annular eclipses from May 9, 1948, through April 13, 2507. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 28, 2633. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 55 seconds on September 10, 1569. Solar Saros 137 has 55 umbral eclipses from August 20, 1533, through April 13, 2507 (973.62 years). That is almost 1 millennium.

Series members 30–40 occur between 1901 and 2100:
30	31	32
April 17, 1912	April 28, 1930	May 9, 1948
33	34	35
May 20, 1966	May 30, 1984	June 10, 2002
36	37	38
June 21, 2020	July 2, 2038	July 12, 2056
39	40
July 24, 2074	August 3, 2092

Notes

1. "TO'DAY'S ECLIPSE OF THE SUN". The Guardian. London, Greater London, England. 1912-04-17. p. 16. Retrieved 2023-11-04– via Newspapers.com.
2. "Few saw eclipse". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Brooklyn, New York. 1912-04-17. p. 20. Retrieved 2023-11-04– via Newspapers.com.
3. www.astronomeer.com: The "Titanic" eclipse of 17 April 1912 Archived 7 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine The last annular eclipse in the Netherlands was 17 April 1912, just two days after the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.
4. Archived 2009-05-30 at the Wayback Machine Societe Astronomique, pp. 234–248, 1912 – By Camille Flammarion (Translation from French by LRM) p. 240 "A balloon dirigible, having on board Admiral Fournier and Colonel Bourgeois permitted good perception of the moon's shadow at a speed of 800 m/sec ... From a captive balloon near Saint-Nom-de-la-Breteche, Captain Dupic made analogous observations which confirmed those made from the dirigible."
5. 17th April 1912: Eclipse fever grips Europe Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
6. Xavier M. Jubier. "Eclipse hybride de Soleil du 17 avril 1912 en Europe (Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1912 April 17 over Europe)". Archived from the original on 24 January 2019.
7. van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements
• Photo of Solar Corona April 17, 1912
• Russia expedition for solar eclipse of April 17, 1912 Archived August 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
• The Eclipse of April 17, 1912 as Visible in France Popular Astronomy, vol. 20, pp. 372–375,
• Flickr photo of eclipse watchers from France