A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 19, 1928,[1] with a magnitude of 1.014. 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 only about 7 hours after perigee (on May 19, 1928, at 6:40 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
It will be unusual in that while it is a total solar eclipse, it is not a central solar eclipse. A non-central eclipse is one where the center-line of totality does not intersect the surface of the Earth (when the gamma is between 0.9972 and 1.0260). Instead, the center line passes just above the Earth's surface. This rare type occurs when totality is only visible at sunset or sunrise in a polar region.
While totality was not visible for any land masses, a partial eclipse was visible for extreme southern South America and Southern Africa. This was the last of 56 umbral solar eclipses in Solar Saros 117.
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.[3]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1928 May 19 at 11:25:49.0 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1928 May 19 at 12:50:01.4 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1928 May 19 at 13:12:03.1 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1928 May 19 at 13:14:20.1 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1928 May 19 at 13:24:19.5 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1928 May 19 at 13:36:57.4 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1928 May 19 at 15:23:05.0 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.01401 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | - | |
| Gamma | −1.00476 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 03h44m11.5s | |
| Sun Declination | +19°47'20.4" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'48.2" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 03h45m33.4s | |
| Moon Declination | +18°48'58.4" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'42.7" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°01'19.9" | |
| ΔT | 24.2 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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.