| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | 0.5149 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.043 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 217 s (3 min 37 s) |
| Coordinates | 34°42′N121°48′W / 34.7°N 121.8°W /34.7; -121.8 |
| Max. width of band | 167 km (104 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 20:47:29 |
| References | |
| Saros | 143 (18 of 72) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9335 |
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A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sascending node of orbit between Monday, September 10, and Tuesday, September 11, 1923,[1] with amagnitude of 1.043. A solar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes betweenEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent 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 2.1 days beforeperigee (on September 12, 1923, at 23:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
The path of totality started at the southeastern tip ofShiashkotan inJapan (now inRussia) on September 11, and crossed thePacific Ocean, southwesternCalifornia including the wholeChannel Islands, northwestern and northernMexico,Yucatan Peninsula,British Honduras (today'sBelize),Swan Islands in Honduras, and two outlying reefs inColombia—Serranilla Bank andBajo Nuevo, on September 10. The eclipse was over 90% in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara on theSouthern California coast. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of far eastRussia, northeastern Japan,North America,Central America, theCaribbean, and northernSouth America.
AtSanta Catalina Island, off the coast of California, a large group of scientists gathered to observe the eclipse were foiled by clouds, with theLos Angeles Times saying that "nothing of the eclipse was seen save two glimpses that showed the crescent of the sun, a sickly, white watermelon rind with the wavering black moon and a few rags of black clouds fast blotting out the white light":[3]
All day the scientists from Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago, from the University of Wisconsin, from Dearborn University, from Drake University and Carleton College, had rehearsed and rehearsed to the counting of the seconds and there they stood now while the moon covered the sun and the world was dark and still, and though the counter counted there was no possibility of taking pictures; no chance of seeing anything but that gray, blue, purple shadow moving across the sky.[3]
Even as late as 11:30 when the eclipse began, the scientists had hopes. They had come thousands of miles, had worked hard, had spent much money, all for a few minutes of clear sky. They had worked in the sweltering sun for weeks and weeks 1302 feet above the sea. There had not been one moment of one day that was not flooded with sunshine. "And surely," said Prof. Edwin Frost of the University of Chicago, "surely we will have these few minutes today."[3]
InBakersfield, where the last eclipse of the Sun had taken place 123 years earlier, many watched the eclipse from streets, chickens were confused, and "all the astronomical apparatus of Bakersfield" was trained on the eclipse.[4] InNew York City the eclipse, while partial, was viewed successfully; in the area of totality, it was "studied by astronomers who [were] depending on it to help them test out Einstein's famoustheory of relativity and whether light rays are bent by the attraction of gravity".[5]
A team from theUniversity of Arizona took images of thecorona inPuerto Libertad, Sonora, Mexico, on the east coast of theGulf of California.[6] A team fromSproul Observatory observed it in Yerbanís in easternDurango state, Mexico.[7]
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.[8]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1923 September 10 at 18:14:41.7 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1923 September 10 at 19:16:26.6 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1923 September 10 at 19:17:19.8 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1923 September 10 at 19:18:13.2 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1923 September 10 at 20:30:34.7 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1923 September 10 at 20:47:29.1 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1923 September 10 at 20:47:52.3 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1923 September 10 at 20:52:49.7 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1923 September 10 at 22:16:55.2 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1923 September 10 at 22:17:50.4 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1923 September 10 at 22:18:45.5 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1923 September 10 at 23:20:20.4 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.04302 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.08790 |
| Gamma | 0.51493 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 11h12m32.0s |
| Sun Declination | +05°05'47.3" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'53.2" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 11h13m08.8s |
| Moon Declination | +05°35'11.3" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'20.1" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°59'57.1" |
| ΔT | 23.3 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse 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 afortnight.
| August 26 Descending node (full moon) | September 10 Ascending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
 | |
| Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 117 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 143 |
This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[9]
The partial solar eclipse onJuly 31, 1924 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1921 to 1924 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 118 | April 8, 1921 Annular | 0.8869 | 123 | October 1, 1921 Total | −0.9383 | |
| 128 | March 28, 1922 Annular | 0.1711 | 133 | September 21, 1922 Total | −0.213 | |
| 138 | March 17, 1923 Annular | −0.5438 | 143 | September 10, 1923 Total | 0.5149 | |
| 148 | March 5, 1924 Partial | −1.2232 | 153 | August 30, 1924 Partial | 1.3123 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 143, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on March 7, 1617. It contains total eclipses from June 24, 1797 throughOctober 24, 1995; hybrid eclipses fromNovember 3, 2013 throughDecember 6, 2067; and annular eclipses fromDecember 16, 2085 through September 16, 2536. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on April 23, 2897. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of totality was produced by member 16 at 3 minutes, 50 seconds onAugust 19, 1887, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 51 at 4 minutes, 54 seconds on September 6, 2518. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit.[10]
| Series members 12–33 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 13 | 14 |
 July 6, 1815 |  July 17, 1833 |  July 28, 1851 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 |
 August 7, 1869 |  August 19, 1887 |  August 30, 1905 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 |
September 10, 1923 |  September 21, 1941 |  October 2, 1959 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
 October 12, 1977 |  October 24, 1995 |  November 3, 2013 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 |
 November 14, 2031 |  November 25, 2049 |  December 6, 2067 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 |
 December 16, 2085 |  December 29, 2103 |  January 8, 2122 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 |
 January 20, 2140 |  January 30, 2158 |  February 10, 2176 |
| 33 | ||
 February 21, 2194 | ||
Themetonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
| 23 eclipse events between February 3, 1859 and June 29, 1946 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 1–3 | November 21–22 | September 8–10 | June 28–29 | April 16–18 |
| 109 | 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 |
 February 3, 1859 |  November 21, 1862 |  June 28, 1870 |  April 16, 1874 | |
| 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 |
 February 2, 1878 |  November 21, 1881 |  September 8, 1885 |  June 28, 1889 |  April 16, 1893 |
| 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 |
 February 1, 1897 |  November 22, 1900 |  September 9, 1904 |  June 28, 1908 |  April 17, 1912 |
| 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 |
 February 3, 1916 |  November 22, 1919 | September 10, 1923 |  June 29, 1927 |  April 18, 1931 |
| 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 | |
 February 3, 1935 |  November 21, 1938 |  September 10, 1942 |  June 29, 1946 | |
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Series members between 1801 and 2087 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 August 17, 1803 (Saros 132) |  July 17, 1814 (Saros 133) |  June 16, 1825 (Saros 134) |  May 15, 1836 (Saros 135) |  April 15, 1847 (Saros 136) |
 March 15, 1858 (Saros 137) |  February 11, 1869 (Saros 138) |  January 11, 1880 (Saros 139) |  December 12, 1890 (Saros 140) |  November 11, 1901 (Saros 141) |
 October 10, 1912 (Saros 142) | September 10, 1923 (Saros 143) |  August 10, 1934 (Saros 144) |  July 9, 1945 (Saros 145) |  June 8, 1956 (Saros 146) |
 May 9, 1967 (Saros 147) |  April 7, 1978 (Saros 148) |  March 7, 1989 (Saros 149) |  February 5, 2000 (Saros 150) |  January 4, 2011 (Saros 151) |
 December 4, 2021 (Saros 152) |  November 3, 2032 (Saros 153) |  October 3, 2043 (Saros 154) |  September 2, 2054 (Saros 155) |  August 2, 2065 (Saros 156) |
 July 1, 2076 (Saros 157) |  June 1, 2087 (Saros 158) | |||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic 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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | ||
|---|---|---|
 November 29, 1807 (Saros 139) |  November 9, 1836 (Saros 140) |  October 19, 1865 (Saros 141) |
 September 29, 1894 (Saros 142) | September 10, 1923 (Saros 143) |  August 20, 1952 (Saros 144) |
 July 31, 1981 (Saros 145) |  July 11, 2010 (Saros 146) |  June 21, 2039 (Saros 147) |
 May 31, 2068 (Saros 148) |  May 11, 2097 (Saros 149) |  April 22, 2126 (Saros 150) |
 April 2, 2155 (Saros 151) |  March 12, 2184 (Saros 152) | |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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