Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948

Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	0.4133
Magnitude	0.9999
Maximum eclipse
Duration	0 s (0 min 0 s)
Coordinates	39°48′N 131°12′E / 39.8°N 131.2°E / 39.8; 131.2
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	2:26:04
References
Saros	137 (32 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9394

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Saturday, May 8 and Sunday, May 9, 1948,^[1] with a magnitude of 0.9999. 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 kilometres wide. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 7 days after apogee (on May 2, 1948, at 2:00 UTC) and 6.7 days before perigee (on May 15, 1948, at 17:10 UTC).^[2]

The moon's apparent diameter was only 0.006% smaller than the Sun's, so this was an annular solar eclipse that occurred on May 9. The path width of this large annular solar eclipse, was about 200 meters and lasted only 0.3 seconds. The large annular eclipse covered over 99% of the Sun, creating a dramatic spectacle for observers in only an extremely narrow strip; however, it was fleeting, lasting just moments at the point of maximum eclipse.

Annularity was visible from Car Nicobar, the northernmost of the Nicobar Islands, and Burma, Siam (now renamed to Thailand) including Bangkok, French Indochina (the part now belonging to Laos), North Vietnam (now belonging to Vietnam), China, South Korea, Rebun Island in Japan, Kuril Islands in the Soviet Union (now belonging to Russia) on May 9, and Alaska on May 8. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Northeast Asia, Alaska, and northwest Canada.

This was the first of four central solar eclipses visible from Bangkok from 1948 to 1958, where it is extremely rare for a large city to witness four central solar eclipses within 10 years.