A partial

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 between Tuesday, September 20 and Wednesday, September 21, 1960, 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 0.6139. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the eastern

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on September 21 and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and northern

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

on September 20.

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 1960

* A total lunar eclipse on March 13. * A partial solar eclipse on March 27. * A total lunar eclipse on September 5. * A partial solar eclipse on September 20.

Metonic

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of December 2, 1956 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, December 2, 1956, with a magnitude of 0.8047. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 9, 1964

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of August 9, 1953 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit on Sunday, August 9, 1953, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 0.3729. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of November 2, 1967 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, November 2, 1967, with a magnitude of 1.0126. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 15, 1951 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 25, 1969

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of October 21, 1949 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, October 21, 1949, with a magnitude of 0.9638. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, 1971, with a magnitude of 0.508. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or p ...

Solar Saros 153

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 10, 1942 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 2, 1978

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 11, 1931 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of August 31, 1989 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, August 31, 1989, with a magnitude of 0.6344. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image ...

Triad

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of November 20, 1873 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit on Sunday, November 20, 1873, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 0.5138. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby tota ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 2047

Solar eclipses of 1957–1960

Saros 153

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

*Eclipse of the Sun of September 20, 1960—Sky and Telescope magazine, volume 20, page 129.

External links

*http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot1951/SE1960Sep20P.GIF *http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEdata.php?Ecl=19600920 {{Solar eclipses 1960 9 20 1960 in science 1960 9 20 September 1960