Solar eclipse of December 25, 1954

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, December 25, 1954 (also known as "The Christmas 1954 solar eclipse"), with a magnitude of 0.9323. It was the first solar eclipse to fall on Christmas since 1935, and the last until 2000. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometers wide. Occurring about 4.9 days after apogee (on December 21, 1954, at 8:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Annularity was visible from the southwestern tip of South West Africa (Now Namibia), Union of South Africa (Now South Africa), Ashmore and Cartier Islands except Cartier Island, Indonesia and Portuguese Timor (Now East Timor). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Southern Africa, Antarctica, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

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

Eclipses in 1954

• An annular solar eclipse on January 5.
• A total lunar eclipse on January 19.
• A total solar eclipse on June 30.
• A partial lunar eclipse on July 16.
• An annular solar eclipse on December 25.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1951
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 12, 1958

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1947
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 1962

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 19, 1945
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 30, 1963

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 25, 1944
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 23, 1965

Solar Saros 131

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 13, 1936
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1926
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 23, 1868
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 25, 2041

Solar eclipses of 1953–1956

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 partial solar eclipses on February 14, 1953 and August 9, 1953 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 131

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 1, 1125. It contains total eclipses from March 27, 1522 through May 30, 1612; hybrid eclipses from June 10, 1630 through July 24, 1702; and annular eclipses from August 4, 1720 through June 18, 2243. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on September 2, 2369. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 28 at 58 seconds on May 30, 1612, and the longest duration of annularity was produced by member 50 at 7 minutes, 54 seconds on January 26, 2009. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

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 ascending 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

Sources

• Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC