Solar eclipse of September 10, 1923
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	0.5149
Magnitude	1.043
Maximum eclipse
Duration	217 sec (3 m 37 s)
Coordinates	34°42′N 121°48′W / 34.7°N 121.8°W / 34.7; -121.8
Max. width of band	167 km (104 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	20:47:29
References
Saros	143 (18 of 72)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9335

Photo of the eclipse

A total solar eclipse occurred on September 10, 1923.

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 started at the southeastern tip of Shiashkotan in Japan (now in Russia) on September 11, and crossed the Pacific Ocean, southwestern California including the whole Channel Islands, northwestern and northern Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, British Honduras (today's Belize), Swan Islands, Honduras, and Serranilla Bank and Bajo Nuevo in Colombia on September 10. The eclipse was over 90% in Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara in the Southern California coast.

Viewings

At Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of California, a large group of scientists gathered to observe the eclipse were foiled by clouds, with the Los Angeles Times saying that "nothing of the eclipse was seen save two glimpses that showed the crescent of the sun, a sickly, white watermelon rind with the wavering black moon and a few rags of black clouds fast blotting out the white light":^[1]

All day the scientists from Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago, from the University of Wisconsin, from Dearborn University, from Drake University and Carleton College, had rehearsed and rehearsed to the counting of the seconds and there they stood now while the moon covered the sun and the world was dark and still, and though the counter counted there was no possibility of taking pictures; no chance of seeing anything but that gray, blue, purple shadow moving across the sky.^[1]

Even as late as 11:30 when the eclipse began, the scientists had hopes. They had come thousands of miles, had worked hard, had spent much money, all for a few minutes of clear sky. They had worked in the sweltering sun for weeks and weeks 1302 feet above the sea. There had not been one moment of one day that was not flooded with sunshine. "And surely," said Prof. Edwin Frost of the University of Chicago, "surely we will have these few minutes today."^[1]

In Bakersfield, where the last eclipse of the Sun had taken place 123 years earlier, many watched the eclipse from streets, chickens were confused, and "all the astronomical apparatus of Bakersfield" was trained on the eclipse.^[2] In New York City the eclipse, while partial, was viewed successfully; in the area of totality, it was "studied by astronomers who [were] depending on it to help them test out Einstein's famous theory of relativity and whether light rays are bent by the attraction of gravity".^[3]

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1921–1924

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.^[4]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1921–1924
Descending node			Ascending node
118	April 8, 1921 Annular		123	October 1, 1921 Total
128	March 28, 1922 Annular		133	September 21, 1922 Total
138	March 17, 1923 Annular		143	September 10, 1923 Total
148	March 5, 1924 Partial		153	August 30, 1924 Partial

Solar 143

It is a part of Saros cycle 143, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 7, 1617 and total event from June 24, 1797 through October 24, 1995. It has hybrid eclipses from November 3, 2013 through December 6, 2067, and annular eclipses from December 16, 2085 through September 16, 2536. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on April 23, 2873. The longest duration of totality was 3 minutes, 50 seconds on August 19, 1887. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.

Series members 17–28 occur between 1741 and 2100
8	9	10
May 23, 1743	June 3, 1761	June 14, 1779
11	12	13
June 24, 1797	July 6, 1815	July 17, 1833
14	15	16
July 28, 1851	August 7, 1869	August 19, 1887
17	18	19
August 30, 1905	September 10, 1923	September 21, 1941
20	21	22
October 2, 1959	October 12, 1977	October 24, 1995
23	24	25
November 3, 2013	November 14, 2031	November 25, 2049
26	27	28
December 6, 2067	December 16, 2085

Notes

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements
• Foto and sketchs of Solar Corona September 10, 1923

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Solar eclipse of 1923 September 10.