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 sec (0 m 2 s)
Coordinates 38°24′N 11°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 on April 17, 1912. It is a hybrid event, starting and ending as an annular eclipse, with only a small portion of totality. 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. Totality was visible over the sea between Spain and France, with annularity continued northeast across Europe and Asia.

This eclipse occurred two days after the RMS Titanic sank in the northwestern Atlantic ocean under the darkness of new moon.[1]

Observations


The Observatory of Paris had the Globule balloon aloft for the 17 April 1912 hybrid eclipse, reported by Camille Flammarion.[2]
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[3]

The 1 May 1912 edition of the luso-Brazilian Brasil-Portugal magazine publishes photographs of the eclipse, as it was seen in Lisbon. A brief 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."

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 1910-1913

Each member 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 1910-1913
Ascending node   Descending node
117May 9, 1910

Total		 122November 2, 1910

Partial
127April 28, 1911

Total		 132October 22, 1911

Annular
137April 17, 1912

Hybrid		 142October 10, 1912

Total
147April 6, 1913

Partial		 152September 30, 1913

Partial

Notes

  1. ↑ www.astronomeer.com: The "Titanic" eclipse of 17 April 1912 The last annular eclipse in the Netherlands was 17 April 1912, just two days after the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.
  2. ↑ 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." Archived May 30, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ 17th April 1912: Eclipse fever grips Europe

References

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