A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Sunday, May 30 and Monday, May 31, 1965,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0544. 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 1.9 days before perigee (on June 1, 1965, at 19:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
As most of the eclipse's path was over open ocean, a prolonged observation was made by a jet transport; flying parallel to the path of the eclipse at, this gave scientists what was at the time the "longest probe in man's history into the conditions of a solar eclipse", for nearly ten minutes. The expedition involved scientists from NASA, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland; in total, 30 researchers and 13 separate research projects were represented on the plane. The plane, operated by NASA, took off from Hilo, Hawaii, and met up with the path of the eclipse approximately south of there. While mostly invisible from land, some ground-based observers in an 85-mile-wide strip of northern New Zealand were able to clearly view the event.
Totality was visible from northwestern Northland Region in New Zealand on May 31 (Monday), and Manuae in Cook Islands, Manuae and Motu One in French Polynesia, and Peru on May 30 (Sunday). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Oceania, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and western South America.
New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union sent observation teams to Manuae, Cook Islands to observe the total eclipse. The New Zealand government deployed ships to transport passengers from Rarotonga, the island where the national capital Avarua is located, to Manuae. The atoll has a total area of 1,524 hectares, and only a few copra workers lived there permanently. During the totality, there were 85 scientists as well as their assistants on the atoll. The sun was covered by clouds during the eclipse and observations were not successful.[3] In the northern part of New Zealand's North Island, the total eclipse occurred shortly after sunrise on May 31 local time. Although there were some clouds in the sky on the previous evening, the eclipse was seen successfully. In addition, scientists also launched rockets to obtain observation data from high altitude.[4]
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.[5]
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1965 May 30 at 18:42:27.7 UTC | |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1965 May 30 at 19:41:19.6 UTC | |
| First Central Line | 1965 May 30 at 19:42:27.9 UTC | |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1965 May 30 at 19:43:36.4 UTC | |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1965 May 30 at 20:58:09.1 UTC | |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1965 May 30 at 21:06:07.2 UTC | |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1965 May 30 at 21:13:07.3 UTC | |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1965 May 30 at 21:17:30.7 UTC | |
| Greatest Duration | 1965 May 30 at 21:22:56.7 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1965 May 30 at 21:37:09.3 UTC | |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1965 May 30 at 22:51:30.3 UTC | |
| Last Central Line | 1965 May 30 at 22:52:40.6 UTC | |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1965 May 30 at 22:53:50.7 UTC | |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1965 May 30 at 23:52:34.5 UTC |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.05440 | |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.11175 | |
| Gamma | −0.42251 | |
| Sun Right Ascension | 04h30m07.4s | |
| Sun Declination | +21°50'16.2" | |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'46.4" | |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" | |
| Moon Right Ascension | 04h30m34.5s | |
| Moon Declination | +21°25'43.5" | |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'22.9" | |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'07.2" | |
| ΔT | 36.1 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.