| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −0.1528 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0776 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 428 s (7 min 8 s) |
| Coordinates | 14°48′N117°00′E / 14.8°N 117°E /14.8; 117 |
| Max. width of band | 254 km (158 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 4:10:42 |
| References | |
| Saros | 136 (34 of 71) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9410 |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sdescending node of orbit on Monday, June 20, 1955,[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] with amagnitude of 1.0776. 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 14.5 hours afterperigee (on June 19, 1955, at 14:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[13]
With a maximum duration of 7 minutes 7.74 seconds, this is the longest solar eclipse of Saros series 136, as well as the longest total solar eclipse since the 11th century, and until the22nd century, because greatest eclipse occurred near the equator.[14]
Totality began over the Indian Ocean, British Seychelles (today'sSeychelles) and Maldives, crossing Ceylon (name changed toSri Lanka later) including the capital cityColombo,Andaman Islands,Burma (today'sMyanmar),Thailand including the capital cityBangkok,Cambodia,Laos,South Vietnam (now belonging toVietnam),Paracel Islands andScarborough Shoal (near the greatest eclipse), moving across the Philippines including the capital cityManila,Kayangel Atoll in theTrust Territory of the Pacific Islands (now belonging toPalau),Nukumanu Islands in theTerritory of Papua New Guinea (today'sPapua New Guinea), towards northernOntong Java Atoll inBritish Solomon Islands (today'sSolomon Islands) ending over Southwestern Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse was visible for parts ofSouth Asia,Southeast Asia,East Asia,Australia, andOceania.
This was the second of four central solar eclipses visible from Bangkok from1948 to1958, where it is extremely rare for a large city to witness four central solar eclipses within 10 years.
The Tokyo Astronomical Observatory (now incorporated into theNational Astronomical Observatory of Japan) of theUniversity of Tokyo sent an expedition to Ceylon, but observation failed due to bad weather conditions. The Hydrographic Office of Japan (nowHydrographic and Oceanographic Department [ja] ofJapan Coast Guard) sent a team to the western coast ofBình Thuận [vi],Bình Sơn district,Quảng Ngãi province,South Vietnam. The whole process was not affected by any clouds or fog. The team said that totality of this eclipse was particularly dark compared with previous total solar eclipses observed, and the long duration of totality was also one of the reasons. The team took many images ofsolar corona successfully.[15] A small team from theUnited States observed the total eclipse from Thailand. Some members of theThai royal family also saw the eclipse fromPhra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, north of the capital city Bangkok. In addition,Radio Thailand also broadcast a special program on the total solar eclipse nationally, which was the first such broadcast in Thailand.[16]
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.[17]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1955 June 20 at 01:33:50.0 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1955 June 20 at 02:27:20.5 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1955 June 20 at 02:28:55.7 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1955 June 20 at 02:30:30.9 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1955 June 20 at 03:25:02.8 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1955 June 20 at 04:08:34.6 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1955 June 20 at 04:10:42.0 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1955 June 20 at 04:12:01.6 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1955 June 20 at 04:12:15.4 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1955 June 20 at 04:56:19.0 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1955 June 20 at 05:50:53.2 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1955 June 20 at 05:52:27.7 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1955 June 20 at 05:54:02.2 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1955 June 20 at 06:47:35.0 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.07756 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.16113 |
| Gamma | −0.15278 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 05h51m36.9s |
| Sun Declination | +23°25'50.7" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'44.3" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 05h51m33.5s |
| Moon Declination | +23°16'33.0" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'40.5" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'11.8" |
| ΔT | 31.2 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.
| June 5 Ascending node (full moon) | June 20 Descending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
 | |
| Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 110 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 136 |
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.[18]
The partial solar eclipses onFebruary 14, 1953 andAugust 9, 1953 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1953 to 1956 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 116 | July 11, 1953 Partial | 1.4388 | 121 | January 5, 1954 Annular | −0.9296 | |
| 126 | June 30, 1954 Total | 0.6135 | 131 | December 25, 1954 Annular | −0.2576 | |
| 136 | June 20, 1955 Total | −0.1528 | 141 | December 14, 1955 Annular | 0.4266 | |
| 146 | June 8, 1956 Total | −0.8934 | 151 | December 2, 1956 Partial | 1.0923 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on June 14, 1360. It contains annular eclipses from September 8, 1504 through November 12, 1594; hybrid eclipses from November 22, 1612 through January 17, 1703; and total eclipses from January 27, 1721 through May 13, 2496. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622. 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 annularity was produced by member 9 at 32 seconds on September 8, 1504, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 34 at 7 minutes, 7.74 seconds onJune 20, 1955. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[19]
| Series members 26–47 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 26 | 27 | 28 |
 March 24, 1811 |  April 3, 1829 |  April 15, 1847 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 |
 April 25, 1865 |  May 6, 1883 |  May 18, 1901 |
| 32 | 33 | 34 |
 May 29, 1919 |  June 8, 1937 | June 20, 1955 |
| 35 | 36 | 37 |
 June 30, 1973 |  July 11, 1991 |  July 22, 2009 |
| 38 | 39 | 40 |
 August 2, 2027 |  August 12, 2045 |  August 24, 2063 |
| 41 | 42 | 43 |
 September 3, 2081 |  September 14, 2099 |  September 26, 2117 |
| 44 | 45 | 46 |
 October 7, 2135 |  October 17, 2153 |  October 29, 2171 |
| 47 | ||
 November 8, 2189 | ||
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 April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 7–8 | January 24–25 | November 12 | August 31–September 1 | June 19–20 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
 April 8, 1902 |  August 31, 1913 |  June 19, 1917 | ||
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
 April 8, 1921 |  January 24, 1925 |  November 12, 1928 |  August 31, 1932 |  June 19, 1936 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
 April 7, 1940 |  January 25, 1944 |  November 12, 1947 |  September 1, 1951 | June 20, 1955 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
 April 8, 1959 |  January 25, 1963 |  November 12, 1966 |  August 31, 1970 |  June 20, 1974 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 | |
 April 7, 1978 |  January 25, 1982 |  November 12, 1985 |  August 31, 1989 | |
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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 August 28, 1802 (Saros 122) |  July 27, 1813 (Saros 123) |  June 26, 1824 (Saros 124) |  May 27, 1835 (Saros 125) |  April 25, 1846 (Saros 126) |
 March 25, 1857 (Saros 127) |  February 23, 1868 (Saros 128) |  January 22, 1879 (Saros 129) |  December 22, 1889 (Saros 130) |  November 22, 1900 (Saros 131) |
 October 22, 1911 (Saros 132) |  September 21, 1922 (Saros 133) |  August 21, 1933 (Saros 134) |  July 20, 1944 (Saros 135) | June 20, 1955 (Saros 136) |
 May 20, 1966 (Saros 137) |  April 18, 1977 (Saros 138) |  March 18, 1988 (Saros 139) |  February 16, 1999 (Saros 140) |  January 15, 2010 (Saros 141) |
 December 14, 2020 (Saros 142) |  November 14, 2031 (Saros 143) |  October 14, 2042 (Saros 144) |  September 12, 2053 (Saros 145) |  August 12, 2064 (Saros 146) |
 July 13, 2075 (Saros 147) |  June 11, 2086 (Saros 148) |  May 11, 2097 (Saros 149) |  April 11, 2108 (Saros 150) |  March 11, 2119 (Saros 151) |
 February 8, 2130 (Saros 152) |  January 8, 2141 (Saros 153) |  December 8, 2151 (Saros 154) |  November 7, 2162 (Saros 155) |  October 7, 2173 (Saros 156) |
 September 4, 2184 (Saros 157) |  August 5, 2195 (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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 September 28, 1810 (Saros 131) |  September 7, 1839 (Saros 132) |  August 18, 1868 (Saros 133) |
 July 29, 1897 (Saros 134) |  July 9, 1926 (Saros 135) | June 20, 1955 (Saros 136) |
 May 30, 1984 (Saros 137) |  May 10, 2013 (Saros 138) |  April 20, 2042 (Saros 139) |
 March 31, 2071 (Saros 140) |  March 10, 2100 (Saros 141) |  February 18, 2129 (Saros 142) |
 January 30, 2158 (Saros 143) |  January 9, 2187 (Saros 144) | |
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