A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, January 25, 1944,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0428. 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. Occurring about 20 hours before perigee (on January 26, 1944, at 11:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
Totality was visible from Peru, Brazil, British Sierra Leone (today's Sierra Leone), and French West Africa (the parts now belonging to Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, including Guinean capital Conakry). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern North America, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Western Europe, West Africa, and Central Africa.
The National Astronomical Observatory in Tacubaya, Mexico sent a team to Chiclayo, Peru. The weather was clear during the eclipse, and because totality occurred shortly after sunrise with a relatively low solar zenith angle, the boundary between the corona and the background of the sky was not so obvious. Most images were taken successfully except for one with the long focus camera.[3]
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.[4]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1944 January 25 at 12:48:43.4 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1944 January 25 at 13:44:39.3 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1944 January 25 at 13:45:20.7 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1944 January 25 at 13:46:02.2 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1944 January 25 at 14:43:56.2 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1944 January 25 at 15:24:37.3 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1944 January 25 at 15:25:00.3 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1944 January 25 at 15:26:42.2 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1944 January 25 at 15:29:42.0 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1944 January 25 at 16:09:24.1 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1944 January 25 at 17:07:18.8 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1944 January 25 at 17:08:01.3 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1944 January 25 at 17:08:43.9 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1944 January 25 at 18:04:37.4 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.04282 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.08747 | |
| Gamma | 0.20246 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 20h27m33.6s | |
| Sun Declination | -19°07'44.1" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'14.7" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 20h27m26.2s | |
| Moon Declination | -18°55'30.7" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'39.5" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'08.4" | |
| ΔT | 26.3 s |
See also: Eclipse cycle. This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, 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.