| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −0.9737 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0266 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 92 s (1 min 32 s) |
| Coordinates | 72°48′S155°06′E / 72.8°S 155.1°E /-72.8; 155.1 |
| Max. width of band | 418 km (260 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 20:40:23 |
| References | |
| Saros | 123 (49 of 70) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9374 |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sascending node of orbit on Thursday, October 12, 1939,[1] with amagnitude of 1.0266. 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 1.8 days afterperigee (on October 11, 1939, at 2:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
Totality was visible for a part ofAntarctica. A partial eclipse was visible for parts ofEastern Australia,Oceania, extreme southernSouth America, andAntarctica.
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.[3]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1939 October 12 at 18:35:06.1 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1939 October 12 at 20:14:48.5 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1939 October 12 at 20:17:38.1 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1939 October 12 at 20:20:50.7 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1939 October 12 at 20:30:28.6 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1939 October 12 at 20:39:46.3 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1939 October 12 at 20:40:23.4 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1939 October 12 at 21:11:17.5 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1939 October 12 at 20:59:35.3 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1939 October 12 at 21:02:46.1 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1939 October 12 at 21:05:33.9 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1939 October 12 at 22:45:29.8 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.02657 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.05385 |
| Gamma | −0.97370 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 13h08m41.4s |
| Sun Declination | -07°17'47.8" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'01.7" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 13h07m33.1s |
| Moon Declination | -08°13'46.1" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'24.2" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'12.1" |
| ΔT | 24.3 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.
| October 12 Ascending node (new moon) | October 28 Descending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 123 | Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 135 |
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.[4]
The partial solar eclipse onAugust 12, 1942 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1939 to 1942 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 118 | April 19, 1939 Annular | 0.9388 | 123 | October 12, 1939 Total | −0.9737 | |
| 128 | April 7, 1940 Annular | 0.219 | 133 | October 1, 1940 Total | −0.2573 | |
| 138 | March 27, 1941 Annular | −0.5025 | 143 | September 21, 1941 Total | 0.4649 | |
| 148 | March 16, 1942 Partial | −1.1908 | 153 | September 10, 1942 Partial | 1.2571 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 123, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 29, 1074. It contains annular eclipses from July 2, 1182 through April 19, 1651; hybrid eclipses from April 30, 1669 through May 22, 1705; and total eclipses from June 3, 1723 throughOctober 23, 1957. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on May 31, 2318. 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 19 at 8 minutes, 7 seconds on November 9, 1398, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 42 at 3 minutes, 27 seconds on July 27, 1813. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sascending node of orbit.[5]
| Series members 42–63 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 42 | 43 | 44 |
 July 27, 1813 |  August 7, 1831 |  August 18, 1849 |
| 45 | 46 | 47 |
 August 29, 1867 |  September 8, 1885 |  September 21, 1903 |
| 48 | 49 | 50 |
 October 1, 1921 | October 12, 1939 |  October 23, 1957 |
| 51 | 52 | 53 |
 November 3, 1975 |  November 13, 1993 |  November 25, 2011 |
| 54 | 55 | 56 |
 December 5, 2029 |  December 16, 2047 |  December 27, 2065 |
| 57 | 58 | 59 |
 January 7, 2084 |  January 19, 2102 |  January 30, 2120 |
| 60 | 61 | 62 |
 February 9, 2138 |  February 21, 2156 |  March 3, 2174 |
| 63 | ||
 March 13, 2192 | ||
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.
| 22 eclipse events between December 24, 1916 and July 31, 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 24–25 | October 12 | July 31–August 1 | May 19–20 | March 7 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
 December 24, 1916 |  July 31, 1924 |  May 19, 1928 |  March 7, 1932 | |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
 December 25, 1935 | October 12, 1939 |  August 1, 1943 |  May 20, 1947 |  March 7, 1951 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
 December 25, 1954 |  October 12, 1958 |  July 31, 1962 |  May 20, 1966 |  March 7, 1970 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
 December 24, 1973 |  October 12, 1977 |  July 31, 1981 |  May 19, 1985 |  March 7, 1989 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 | ||
 December 24, 1992 |  October 12, 1996 |  July 31, 2000 | ||
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 19, 1808 (Saros 111) |  September 19, 1819 (Saros 112) |  August 18, 1830 (Saros 113) |  July 18, 1841 (Saros 114) |  June 17, 1852 (Saros 115) |
 May 17, 1863 (Saros 116) |  April 16, 1874 (Saros 117) |  March 16, 1885 (Saros 118) |  February 13, 1896 (Saros 119) |  January 14, 1907 (Saros 120) |
 December 14, 1917 (Saros 121) |  November 12, 1928 (Saros 122) | October 12, 1939 (Saros 123) |  September 12, 1950 (Saros 124) |  August 11, 1961 (Saros 125) |
 July 10, 1972 (Saros 126) |  June 11, 1983 (Saros 127) |  May 10, 1994 (Saros 128) |  April 8, 2005 (Saros 129) |  March 9, 2016 (Saros 130) |
 February 6, 2027 (Saros 131) |  January 5, 2038 (Saros 132) |  December 5, 2048 (Saros 133) |  November 5, 2059 (Saros 134) |  October 4, 2070 (Saros 135) |
 September 3, 2081 (Saros 136) |  August 3, 2092 (Saros 137) |  July 4, 2103 (Saros 138) |  June 3, 2114 (Saros 139) |  May 3, 2125 (Saros 140) |
 April 1, 2136 (Saros 141) |  March 2, 2147 (Saros 142) |  January 30, 2158 (Saros 143) |  December 29, 2168 (Saros 144) |  November 28, 2179 (Saros 145) |
 October 29, 2190 (Saros 146) | ||||
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 January 1, 1824 (Saros 119) |  December 11, 1852 (Saros 120) |  November 21, 1881 (Saros 121) |
 November 2, 1910 (Saros 122) | October 12, 1939 (Saros 123) |  September 22, 1968 (Saros 124) |
 September 2, 1997 (Saros 125) |  August 12, 2026 (Saros 126) |  July 24, 2055 (Saros 127) |
 July 3, 2084 (Saros 128) |  June 13, 2113 (Saros 129) |  May 25, 2142 (Saros 130) |
 May 5, 2171 (Saros 131) |  April 14, 2200 (Saros 132) | |
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