A total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

occurred at the Moon's

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit on Thursday, October 12, 1939, with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 1.0266. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 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 The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the '' visual ...

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 after

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on October 11, 1939, at 2:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. Totality was visible for a part of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of

Eastern Australia The eastern states of Australia are the states adjoining the east continental coastline of Australia. These are the mainland states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and the island state of Tasmania. The Australian Capital Territor ...

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

, extreme southern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and

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 An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, 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 A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1939

* An annular solar eclipse on April 19. * A total lunar eclipse on May 3. * A total solar eclipse on October 12. * A partial lunar eclipse on October 28.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 25, 1935 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 1, 1943 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, August 1, 1943, with a magnitude of 0.9409. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of August 31, 1932 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Wednesday, August 31 and Thursday, September 1, 1932, with a magnitude of 1.0257. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby tota ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of November 23, 1946 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, November 23, 1946, with a magnitude of 0.7758. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the imag ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of October 7, 1930 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 18, 1948

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of November 12, 1928 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Monday, November 12, 1928, with a magnitude of 0.8078. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of September 12, 1950 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit between Monday, September 11, 1950 and Tuesday, September 12, 1950, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0182. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes bet ...

Solar Saros 123

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of October 1, 1921 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, October 1, 1921, with a magnitude of 1.0293. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of October 23, 1957 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, October 23, 1957, with a magnitude of 1.0013. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

Inex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of November 2, 1910 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Tuesday, November 1 and Wednesday, November 2, 1910, with a magnitude of 0.8515. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of September 22, 1968 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, September 22, 1968, with a magnitude of 1.0099. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 11, 1852 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 12, 2026 A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, with a magnitude of 1.0386. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

Solar eclipses of 1939–1942

Saros 123

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

{{Solar eclipses 1939 10 12 1939 10 12 1939 in science October 1939