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Solar eclipse of June 29, 1927

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Solar eclipse of June 29, 1927
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureTotal
Gamma0.8163
Magnitude1.0128
Maximum eclipse
Duration50 s (0 min 50 s)
Coordinates78°06′N 73°48′E / 78.1°N 73.8°E / 78.1; 73.8
Max. width of band77 km (48 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse6:23:27
References
Saros145 (17 of 77)
Catalog # (SE5000)9344

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, June 29, 1927, with a magnitude of 1.0128. 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 far northern Europe and Asia, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Soviet Union (today's Russia) on June 29 (Wednesday), and finally passed Amukta in Alaska on June 28 (Tuesday).

Observation in England[edit]

This was the first total eclipse visible from British mainland soil for 203 years. The Astronomer Royal set up a camp to observe the eclipse from the grounds of Giggleswick School in North Yorkshire, which was on the line of totality.[1][2] An observer at Southport, where an estimated quarter of a million people were on the shore to watch, described the eclipse for the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, describing it as "those memorable 23 seconds ... a landmark forever in the lives of those privileged to see for the first time the Sun's Corona, whose secrets are only revealed to us for some few minutes in each century."[3]

This eclipse is referenced in the closing pages of Dorothy L. Sayers' novel Unnatural Death.[4] Frances Brody's 2017 novel Death in the Stars is set at Giggleswick School while crowds were there to view the eclipse.[5]

Virginia Woolf recorded her impression of the eclipse, including the words "We had fallen. It was extinct. There was no colour. The earth was dead."[6]

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses in 1927[edit]

Metonic[edit]

Tzolkinex[edit]

Half-Saros[edit]

Tritos[edit]

Solar Saros 145[edit]

Inex[edit]

Triad[edit]

Solar eclipses of 1924–1928[edit]

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]

The partial solar eclipses on March 5, 1924 and August 30, 1924 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the solar eclipses on May 19, 1928 and November 12, 1928 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1924 to 1928
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
115 July 31, 1924

Partial 		−1.4459 120 January 24, 1925

Total 		0.8661
125 July 20, 1925

Annular 		−0.7193 130

Totality in Sumatra, Indonesia 		January 14, 1926

Total 		0.1973
135 July 9, 1926

Annular 		0.0538 140 January 3, 1927

Annular 		−0.4956
145 June 29, 1927

Total 		0.8163 150 December 24, 1927

Partial 		−1.2416
155 June 17, 1928

Partial 		1.5107

Saros 145[edit]

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 145, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 77 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on January 4, 1639. It contains an annular eclipse on June 6, 1891; a hybrid eclipse on June 17, 1909; and total eclipses from June 29, 1927 through September 9, 2648. The series ends at member 77 as a partial eclipse on April 17, 3009. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of annularity was produced by member 15 at 6 seconds (by default) on June 6, 1891, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 50 at 7 minutes, 12 seconds on June 25, 2522. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[8]

Series members 10–32 occur between 1801 and 2200:
10 11 12

April 13, 1801
April 24, 1819
May 4, 1837
13 14 15

May 16, 1855
May 26, 1873
June 6, 1891
16 17 18

June 17, 1909
June 29, 1927
July 9, 1945
19 20 21

July 20, 1963
July 31, 1981
August 11, 1999
22 23 24

August 21, 2017
September 2, 2035
September 12, 2053
25 26 27

September 23, 2071
October 4, 2089
October 16, 2107
28 29 30

October 26, 2125
November 7, 2143
November 17, 2161
31 32

November 28, 2179
December 9, 2197

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "With the Astronomer Royal". The Guardian. 30 June 1927. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Eclipse archive". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 17 August 1999. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  3. ^ Seeley, Sylvia (1927). "The total eclipse of June 29, 1927 as seen by a spectator at Southport, England". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 21: 328-332. Bibcode:1927JRASC..21..328S. Retrieved 9 January 2023 – via SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS).
  4. ^ "Unnatural Death".
  5. ^ "Death in the Stars: the ninth Kate Shackleton mystery by Frances Brody". frances-brody.com. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  6. ^ Popova, Maria (9 May 2018). "Darkness in the Celestial Lighthouse: Virginia Woolf's Arresting 1927 Account of a Total Solar Eclipse". The Marginalian. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  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.
  8. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 145". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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