# Solar eclipse of January 3, 1946

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, January 3, 1946, with a magnitude of 0.5529. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
This was the first of four partial solar eclipses in 1946, with the others occurring on May 30, June 29, and November 23.
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Antarctica and extreme southern South America.

## Eclipse details

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.
January 3, 1946 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1946 January 03 at 10:25:50.6 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1946 January 03 at 12:16:10.7 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1946 January 03 at 12:16:37.9 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1946 January 03 at 12:30:05.5 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1946 January 03 at 14:06:25.7 UTC |
January 3, 1946 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.55294 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.43993 |
| Gamma | −1.23918 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 18h54m29.6s |
| Sun Declination | -22°51'18.5" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'15.9" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 18h54m28.6s |
| Moon Declination | -23°59'55.4" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'07.7" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°55'31.2" |
| ΔT | 27.3 s |

## Eclipse season

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.
Eclipse season of December 1945–January 1946 :
| December 19 Ascending node (full moon) | January 3 Descending node (new moon) |
| Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 124 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 150 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1946

* A partial solar eclipse on January 3.
* A partial solar eclipse on May 30.
* A total lunar eclipse on June 14.
* A partial solar eclipse on June 29.
* A partial solar eclipse on November 23.
* A total lunar eclipse on December 8.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 16, 1942
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 21, 1949

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 21, 1938
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1953

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 28, 1936
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 8, 1955

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 3, 1935
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 2, 1956

### Solar Saros 150

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1927
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1964

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 23, 1917
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 13, 1974

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 4, 1859
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 2032

### Solar eclipses of 1942–1946

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.
The partial solar eclipses on March 16, 1942 and September 10, 1942 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set, and the partial solar eclipses on May 30, 1946 and November 23, 1946 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1942 to 1946 :
| Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 115 | August 12, 1942 Partial | −1.5244 | 120 | February 4, 1943 Total | 0.8734 |
| 125 | August 1, 1943 Annular | −0.8041 | 130 | January 25, 1944 Total | 0.2025 |
| 135 | July 20, 1944 Annular | −0.0314 | 140 | January 14, 1945 Annular | −0.4937 |
| 145 | July 9, 1945 Total | 0.7356 | 150 | January 3, 1946 Partial | −1.2392 |
| 155 | June 29, 1946 Partial | 1.4361 |

### Saros 150

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 150, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 24, 1729. It contains annular eclipses from April 22, 2126 through June 22, 2829. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 29, 2991. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 45 at 9 minutes, 58 seconds on December 19, 2522. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Series members 5–27 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 5 | 6 | 7 |
| October 7, 1801 | October 19, 1819 | October 29, 1837 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 |
| November 9, 1855 | November 20, 1873 | December 1, 1891 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 |
| December 12, 1909 | December 24, 1927 | January 3, 1946 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 |
| January 14, 1964 | January 25, 1982 | February 5, 2000 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 |
| February 15, 2018 | February 27, 2036 | March 9, 2054 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 |
| March 19, 2072 | March 31, 2090 | April 11, 2108 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 |
| April 22, 2126 | May 3, 2144 | May 14, 2162 |
| 26 | 27 |
| May 24, 2180 | June 4, 2198 |

### Metonic series

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
22 eclipse events between March 16, 1866 and August 9, 1953 :
| March 16–17 | January 1–3 | October 20–22 | August 9–10 | May 27–29 |
| 108 | 110 | 112 | 114 | 116 |
| March 16, 1866 | | | August 9, 1877 | May 27, 1881 |
| 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 | 126 |
| March 16, 1885 | January 1, 1889 | October 20, 1892 | August 9, 1896 | May 28, 1900 |
| 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 | 136 |
| March 17, 1904 | January 3, 1908 | October 22, 1911 | August 10, 1915 | May 29, 1919 |
| 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 | 146 |
| March 17, 1923 | January 3, 1927 | October 21, 1930 | August 10, 1934 | May 29, 1938 |
| 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 |
| March 16, 1942 | January 3, 1946 | October 21, 1949 | August 9, 1953 |

### Tritos series

This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
The partial solar eclipse on October 24, 2098 (part of Saros 164) is also a part of this series but is not included in the table below.
Series members between 1801 and 2011 :
| February 11, 1804 (Saros 137) | January 10, 1815 (Saros 138) | December 9, 1825 (Saros 139) | November 9, 1836 (Saros 140) | October 9, 1847 (Saros 141) |
| September 7, 1858 (Saros 142) | August 7, 1869 (Saros 143) | July 7, 1880 (Saros 144) | June 6, 1891 (Saros 145) | May 7, 1902 (Saros 146) |
| April 6, 1913 (Saros 147) | March 5, 1924 (Saros 148) | February 3, 1935 (Saros 149) | January 3, 1946 (Saros 150) | December 2, 1956 (Saros 151) |
| November 2, 1967 (Saros 152) | October 2, 1978 (Saros 153) | August 31, 1989 (Saros 154) | July 31, 2000 (Saros 155) | July 1, 2011 (Saros 156) |

### Inex series

This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Series members between 1801 and 2200 :
| April 13, 1801 (Saros 145) | March 24, 1830 (Saros 146) | March 4, 1859 (Saros 147) |
| February 11, 1888 (Saros 148) | January 23, 1917 (Saros 149) | January 3, 1946 (Saros 150) |
| December 13, 1974 (Saros 151) | November 23, 2003 (Saros 152) | November 3, 2032 (Saros 153) |
| October 13, 2061 (Saros 154) | September 23, 2090 (Saros 155) | September 5, 2119 (Saros 156) |
| August 14, 2148 (Saros 157) | July 25, 2177 (Saros 158) | |