| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | 0.1934 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0437 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 254 s (4 min 14 s) |
| Coordinates | 11°48′S145°06′W / 11.8°S 145.1°W /-11.8; -145.1 |
| Max. width of band | 149 km (93 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 21:45:22 |
| References | |
| Saros | 130 (46 of 73) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9299 |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sdescending node of orbit between Friday, January 3 and Saturday, January 4, 1908,[1][2][3][4][5] with amagnitude of 1.0437. Asolar 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 14 hours beforeperigee (on January 4, 1908, at 12:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[6]
Totality was visible fromEbon Atoll inGerman New Guinea (now inMarshall Islands),British Western Pacific Territories (the part now belonging toKiribati),Line Islands (now in Kiribati),Phoenix Islands (now in Kiribati) on January 4 (Saturday), andCosta Rica on January 3 (Friday). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of northernOceania,Hawaii, southernNorth America,Central America, the westernCaribbean, and westernSouth America.
The eclipse was observed by astronomerWilliam Wallace Campbell ofLick Observatory, viewed fromFlint Island,Kiribati, an uninhabited island in the Line Islands. The team of Lick Observatory departed fromSan Francisco on November 22, 1907, and arrived inPapeete,Tahiti Island, the capital of French Polynesia on December 4. After making preparations of supplies and logistics personnel, it departed again on the evening of December 7 and arrived at Flint Island on the afternoon of 9 December.[7]
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Astronomers from theRoyal Astronomical Society,Sydney Observatory and a party fromAustralia andNew Zealand which includedFrancis McClean andHenry Winkelmann also observed the total eclipse near the observation site of Lick Observatory. The team successfully took images of thecorona.[8][9]
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.[10]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1908 January 3 at 19:07:37.2 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1908 January 3 at 20:03:19.2 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1908 January 3 at 20:04:02.0 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1908 January 3 at 20:04:44.8 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1908 January 3 at 21:02:14.0 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1908 January 3 at 21:43:22.3 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1908 January 3 at 21:45:11.7 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1908 January 3 at 21:45:21.4 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1908 January 3 at 21:45:57.9 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1908 January 3 at 22:28:29.5 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1908 January 3 at 23:25:57.2 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1908 January 3 at 23:26:40.8 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1908 January 3 at 23:27:24.4 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1908 January 4 at 00:23:04.0 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.04375 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.08941 |
| Gamma | 0.19334 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 18h52m47.6s |
| Sun Declination | -22°53'44.4" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'16.0" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 18h52m48.0s |
| Moon Declination | -22°41'55.4" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'41.7" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'16.1" |
| ΔT | 7.7 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.
| January 3 Descending node (new moon) | January 18 Ascending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 130 | Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 142 |
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.[11]
The partial solar eclipses onFebruary 23, 1906 andAugust 20, 1906 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1906 to 1909 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 115 | July 21, 1906 Partial | −1.3637 | 120 | January 14, 1907 Total | 0.8628 | |
| 125 | July 10, 1907 Annular | −0.6313 | 130 | January 3, 1908 Total | 0.1934 | |
| 135 | June 28, 1908 Annular | 0.1389 | 140 | December 23, 1908 Hybrid | −0.4985 | |
| 145 | June 17, 1909 Hybrid | 0.8957 | 150 | December 12, 1909 Partial | −1.2456 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 130, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 20, 1096. It contains total eclipses from April 5, 1475 through July 18, 2232. There are no annular or hybrid eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on October 25, 2394. 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 30 at 6 minutes, 41 seconds on July 11, 1619. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[12]
| Series members 41–62 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 41 | 42 | 43 |
 November 9, 1817 |  November 20, 1835 |  November 30, 1853 |
| 44 | 45 | 46 |
 December 12, 1871 |  December 22, 1889 | January 3, 1908 |
| 47 | 48 | 49 |
 January 14, 1926 |  January 25, 1944 |  February 5, 1962 |
| 50 | 51 | 52 |
 February 16, 1980 |  February 26, 1998 |  March 9, 2016 |
| 53 | 54 | 55 |
 March 20, 2034 |  March 30, 2052 |  April 11, 2070 |
| 56 | 57 | 58 |
 April 21, 2088 |  May 3, 2106 |  May 14, 2124 |
| 59 | 60 | 61 |
 May 25, 2142 |  June 4, 2160 |  June 16, 2178 |
| 62 | ||
 June 26, 2196 | ||
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 descending node.
| 22 eclipse events between March 16, 1866 and August 9, 1953 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 16–17 | January 1–3 | October 20–22 | August 9–10 | May 27–29 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
 March 16, 1866 |  August 9, 1877 |  May 27, 1881 | ||
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
 March 16, 1885 |  January 1, 1889 |  October 20, 1892 |  August 9, 1896 |  May 28, 1900 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
 March 17, 1904 | January 3, 1908 |  October 22, 1911 |  August 10, 1915 |  May 29, 1919 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
 March 17, 1923 |  January 3, 1927 |  October 21, 1930 |  August 10, 1934 |  May 29, 1938 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 | |
 March 16, 1942 |  January 3, 1946 |  October 21, 1949 |  August 9, 1953 | |
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 2200 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 October 9, 1809 (Saros 121) |  September 7, 1820 (Saros 122) |  August 7, 1831 (Saros 123) |  July 8, 1842 (Saros 124) |  June 6, 1853 (Saros 125) |
 May 6, 1864 (Saros 126) |  April 6, 1875 (Saros 127) |  March 5, 1886 (Saros 128) |  February 1, 1897 (Saros 129) | January 3, 1908 (Saros 130) |
 December 3, 1918 (Saros 131) |  November 1, 1929 (Saros 132) |  October 1, 1940 (Saros 133) |  September 1, 1951 (Saros 134) |  July 31, 1962 (Saros 135) |
 June 30, 1973 (Saros 136) |  May 30, 1984 (Saros 137) |  April 29, 1995 (Saros 138) |  March 29, 2006 (Saros 139) |  February 26, 2017 (Saros 140) |
 January 26, 2028 (Saros 141) |  December 26, 2038 (Saros 142) |  November 25, 2049 (Saros 143) |  October 24, 2060 (Saros 144) |  September 23, 2071 (Saros 145) |
 August 24, 2082 (Saros 146) |  July 23, 2093 (Saros 147) |  June 22, 2104 (Saros 148) |  May 24, 2115 (Saros 149) |  April 22, 2126 (Saros 150) |
 March 21, 2137 (Saros 151) |  February 19, 2148 (Saros 152) |  January 19, 2159 (Saros 153) |  December 18, 2169 (Saros 154) |  November 17, 2180 (Saros 155) |
 October 18, 2191 (Saros 156) | ||||
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 March 4, 1821 (Saros 127) |  February 12, 1850 (Saros 128) |  January 22, 1879 (Saros 129) |
January 3, 1908 (Saros 130) |  December 13, 1936 (Saros 131) |  November 23, 1965 (Saros 132) |
 November 3, 1994 (Saros 133) |  October 14, 2023 (Saros 134) |  September 22, 2052 (Saros 135) |
 September 3, 2081 (Saros 136) |  August 15, 2110 (Saros 137) |  July 25, 2139 (Saros 138) |
 July 5, 2168 (Saros 139) |  June 15, 2197 (Saros 140) | |
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