| Total eclipse | |
 The solar eclipse as viewed fromKanton Island. | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −0.2253 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0751 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 424 s (7 min 4 s) |
| Coordinates | 9°54′N130°30′W / 9.9°N 130.5°W /9.9; -130.5 |
| Max. width of band | 250 km (160 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 20:41:02 |
| References | |
| Saros | 136 (33 of 71) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9369 |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sdescending node of orbit between Tuesday, June 8 and Wednesday, June 9, 1937,[1] with amagnitude of 1.0751. 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 16 hours afterperigee (on June 8, 1937, at 4:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
With a maximum eclipse of 7 minutes and 4.06 seconds, this was the longest total solar eclipse since July 1, 1098, which lasted 7 minutes and 5.34 seconds. A longer total solar eclipse occurred onJune 20, 1955.[3][4][5][6][7]
The path of totality crossed thePacific Ocean starting inGilbert and Ellice Islands (now belonging toTuvalu andKiribati) on June 9 (Wednesday), and ending at sunset inPeru on June 8 (Tuesday). At sunrise totality lasted 3 minutes, 6.8 seconds and at sunset totality lasted 3 minutes, 5.1 seconds. A partial eclipse was visible for parts ofOceania,Hawaii, southernNorth America,Central America, theCaribbean, and westernSouth America. American astronomy professorEthelwynn Rice Beckwith traveled to Peru to see this eclipse, and described the event in detail for the Oberlin Alumnae Magazine in 1937, in an article titled "Three Minutes in Peru."[8]
Scientists from theUnited States,United Kingdom andNew Zealand observed the total eclipse inCanton Island,Phoenix Islands. The American expedition was organized by theNational Geographic Society and assisted by theUnited States Navy. This total solar eclipse was memorable for three reasons: first, the duration of totality was particularly long with the longest point in eastern Pacific exceeding 7 minutes; second, despite being in thetropics, weather was good for all observation sites; third, broadcasts were made throughradio before, during and after the eclipse through long distances so people could hear the details.[9][10]
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.[11]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1937 June 8 at 18:04:51.1 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1937 June 8 at 18:59:01.4 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1937 June 8 at 19:00:34.9 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1937 June 8 at 19:02:08.4 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1937 June 8 at 19:58:44.5 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1937 June 8 at 20:40:34.6 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1937 June 8 at 20:41:01.5 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1937 June 8 at 20:41:09.6 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1937 June 8 at 20:43:19.5 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1937 June 8 at 21:23:18.0 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1937 June 8 at 22:19:55.6 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1937 June 8 at 22:21:28.3 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1937 June 8 at 22:23:00.9 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1937 June 8 at 23:17:13.7 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.07513 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.15590 |
| Gamma | −0.22532 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 05h06m06.4s |
| Sun Declination | +22°52'06.5" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'45.2" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 05h06m06.1s |
| Moon Declination | +22°38'22.0" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'39.4" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'08.0" |
| ΔT | 23.9 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.
| May 25 Ascending node (full moon) | June 8 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.[12]
The partial solar eclipses onFebruary 3, 1935 andJuly 30, 1935 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1935 to 1938 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 111 | January 5, 1935 Partial | −1.5381 | 116 | June 30, 1935 Partial | 1.3623 | |
| 121 | December 25, 1935 Annular | −0.9228 | 126 | June 19, 1936 Total | 0.5389 | |
| 131 | December 13, 1936 Annular | −0.2493 | 136 Totality inKanton Island, Kiribati | June 8, 1937 Total | −0.2253 | |
| 141 | December 2, 1937 Annular | 0.4389 | 146 | May 29, 1938 Total | −0.9607 | |
| 151 | November 21, 1938 Partial | 1.1077 | ||||
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.[13]
| 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 March 27, 1884 and August 20, 1971 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 27–29 | January 14 | November 1–2 | August 20–21 | June 8 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
 March 27, 1884 |  August 20, 1895 |  June 8, 1899 | ||
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
 March 29, 1903 |  January 14, 1907 |  November 2, 1910 |  August 21, 1914 |  June 8, 1918 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
 March 28, 1922 |  January 14, 1926 |  November 1, 1929 |  August 21, 1933 | June 8, 1937 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
 March 27, 1941 |  January 14, 1945 |  November 1, 1948 |  August 20, 1952 |  June 8, 1956 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 | |
 March 27, 1960 |  January 14, 1964 |  November 2, 1967 |  August 20, 1971 | |
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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 June 16, 1806 (Saros 124) |  May 16, 1817 (Saros 125) |  April 14, 1828 (Saros 126) |  March 15, 1839 (Saros 127) |  February 12, 1850 (Saros 128) |
 January 11, 1861 (Saros 129) |  December 12, 1871 (Saros 130) |  November 10, 1882 (Saros 131) |  October 9, 1893 (Saros 132) |  September 9, 1904 (Saros 133) |
 August 10, 1915 (Saros 134) |  July 9, 1926 (Saros 135) | June 8, 1937 (Saros 136) |  May 9, 1948 (Saros 137) |  April 8, 1959 (Saros 138) |
 March 7, 1970 (Saros 139) |  February 4, 1981 (Saros 140) |  January 4, 1992 (Saros 141) |  December 4, 2002 (Saros 142) |  November 3, 2013 (Saros 143) |
 October 2, 2024 (Saros 144) |  September 2, 2035 (Saros 145) |  August 2, 2046 (Saros 146) |  July 1, 2057 (Saros 147) |  May 31, 2068 (Saros 148) |
 May 1, 2079 (Saros 149) |  March 31, 2090 (Saros 150) |  February 28, 2101 (Saros 151) |  January 29, 2112 (Saros 152) |  December 28, 2122 (Saros 153) |
 November 26, 2133 (Saros 154) |  October 26, 2144 (Saros 155) |  September 26, 2155 (Saros 156) |  August 25, 2166 (Saros 157) |  July 25, 2177 (Saros 158) |
 June 24, 2188 (Saros 159) |  May 24, 2199 (Saros 160) | |||
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 August 27, 1821 (Saros 132) |  August 7, 1850 (Saros 133) |  July 19, 1879 (Saros 134) |
 June 28, 1908 (Saros 135) | June 8, 1937 (Saros 136) |  May 20, 1966 (Saros 137) |
 April 29, 1995 (Saros 138) |  April 8, 2024 (Saros 139) |  March 20, 2053 (Saros 140) |
 February 27, 2082 (Saros 141) |  February 8, 2111 (Saros 142) |  January 20, 2140 (Saros 143) |
 December 29, 2168 (Saros 144) |  December 9, 2197 (Saros 145) | |
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