Total eclipse
A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, May 18, 1901, with a magnitude of 1.068. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent 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 23 hours after perigee (on May 17, 1901, at 6:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
The path of totality crossed French Madagascar (the part now belonging to Madagascar), Réunion, British Mauritius (now Mauritius), Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), and British New Guinea (now belonging to Papua New Guinea). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of East Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Western Oceania.
Observations.
The Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society observed the total eclipse in Padang on the west coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. The weather was good after sunrise on May 18, but clouds gradually increased after the start of the eclipse. During the total phase, clouds continued to cover the sun and tended to become thicker, making it increasingly difficult to see the sun through the clouds. A team from Lick Observatory, California also observed it in Padang.
Eclipse details.
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.
Eclipse season.
This eclipse is part of an eclipse 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 a fortnight.
Related eclipses.
Solar eclipses of 1898–1902.
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.
The solar eclipses on January 22, 1898 (total) and July 18, 1898 (annular) occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipse on April 8, 1902 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Metonic series.
The metonic 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.
Tritos series.
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic 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.
Inex series.
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic 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.
Notes.
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