Solar eclipse of June 19, 1936

56°06′N 104°42′E / 56.1°N 104.7°E / 56.1; 104.7Max. width of band132 km (82 mi)Times (UTC)Greatest eclipse5:20:31ReferencesSaros126 (43 of 72)Catalog # (SE5000)9367

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node on Friday, June 19, 1936 (Thursday, June 18, 1936 east of the International Date Line). 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. The path of totality crossed Europe and Asia. The full phase could be seen in Greece, Turkey, USSR, China and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The maximum eclipse was near Bratsk and lasted about 2.5 minutes. The Sun was 57 degrees above horizon, gamma had a value of 0.539, and the eclipse was part of Solar Saros 126.

The Evening Standard reported that the "preparations for to-day's eclipse have been going forward for the past two years", and that a British expedition led by amateur astronomer R. L. Waterfield saw "excellent atmospheric conditions" from its observation point on Cap Sunium.^[1] Similar observations were made by teams in Hokkaido, some hours later, allowing their observations of the Sun's corona to be compared "to find out whether any changes in shape or in detail of the corona have taken place in this interval".^[1] A Russian team in Krasnoyarsk reported successful observation from a high-altitude balloon, where scientists "hoped to make observations at a height of some 15 miles".^[1] There were also observers in the south of Greece, from Greece, Italy and Poland, the latter of which were "successful in obtaining cinematograph pictures of the eclipse".^[1] Several long prominences (more than a million miles long) were observed, as well as the planet Venus.^[1]

A United States expedition in Siberia conducted experiments on the ionosphere, with the Associated Press reporting that "indications that the earth's electrified roof, which, many miles above the surface of the globe, reflects back radio impulses, is formed mostly as a result of ultra-violet sun radiations appeared in preliminary results of the solar eclipse observations".^[2]

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses 1935–1938

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.^[3]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1935 to 1938
Ascending node			Descending node
111	January 5, 1935 Partial		116	June 30, 1935 Partial
121	December 25, 1935 Annular		126	June 19, 1936 Total
131	December 13, 1936 Annular		136	June 8, 1937 Total
141	December 2, 1937 Annular		146	May 29, 1938 Total
151	November 21, 1938 Partial

Saros 126

It is a part of Saros cycle 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810, hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864 and total eclipses from May 17, 1882 through August 23, 2044. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. The longest duration of central eclipse (annular or total) was 6 minutes, 30 seconds of annularity on June 26, 1359. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.

Series members 42–52 occur between 1901 and 2100
42	43	44
June 8, 1918	June 19, 1936	June 30, 1954
45	46	47
July 10, 1972	July 22, 1990	August 1, 2008
48	49	50
August 12, 2026	August 23, 2044	September 3, 2062
51	52
September 13, 2080	September 25, 2098

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.

Inex series members between 1901 and 2100:
July 10, 1907 (Saros 125)	June 19, 1936 (Saros 126)	May 30, 1965 (Saros 127)
May 10, 1994 (Saros 128)	April 20, 2023 (Saros 129)	March 30, 2052 (Saros 130)
March 10, 2081 (Saros 131)

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.

Series members between 1901 and 2100
September 21, 1903 (Saros 123)	August 21, 1914 (Saros 124)	July 20, 1925 (Saros 125)
June 19, 1936 (Saros 126)	May 20, 1947 (Saros 127)	April 19, 1958 (Saros 128)
March 18, 1969 (Saros 129)	February 16, 1980 (Saros 130)	January 15, 1991 (Saros 131)
December 14, 2001 (Saros 132)	November 13, 2012 (Saros 133)	October 14, 2023 (Saros 134)
September 12, 2034 (Saros 135)	August 12, 2045 (Saros 136)	July 12, 2056 (Saros 137)
June 11, 2067 (Saros 138)	May 11, 2078 (Saros 139)	April 10, 2089 (Saros 140)
March 10, 2100 (Saros 141)

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).

22 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989:
April 7–8	January 24–25	November 12	August 31-September 1	June 19–20
108			114	116
April 8, 1902			August 31, 1913	June 19, 1917
118	120	122	124	126
April 8, 1921	January 24, 1925	November 12, 1928	August 31, 1932	June 19, 1936
128	130	132	134	136
April 7, 1940	January 25, 1944	November 12, 1947	September 1, 1951	June 20, 1955
138	140	142	144	146
April 8, 1959	January 25, 1963	November 12, 1966	August 31, 1970	June 20, 1974
148	150	152	154
April 7, 1978	January 25, 1982	November 12, 1985	August 31, 1989

Notes

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements
• Solar eclipse of June 19, 1936 in Russia
• Images of solar eclipse of June 19, 1936
• Map Kazakhstan Archived 2020-12-29 at the Wayback Machine
• Observing in Moscow