# Solar eclipse of December 2, 1956

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, December 2, 1956, with a magnitude of 0.8047. 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.
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Europe, Northeast Africa, and Asia.

## 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.
December 2, 1956 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1956 December 02 at 05:52:09.3 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1956 December 02 at 07:54:38.5 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1956 December 02 at 08:00:35.0 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1956 December 02 at 08:13:02.5 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1956 December 02 at 10:09:08.8 UTC |
December 2, 1956 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.80468 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.73350 |
| Gamma | 1.09229 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 16h34m00.8s |
| Sun Declination | -21°58'22.1" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'13.5" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 16h34m13.1s |
| Moon Declination | -20°57'44.2" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'10.9" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°55'43.2" |
| ΔT | 31.7 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 November–December 1956 :
| November 18 Descending node (full moon) | December 2 Ascending node (new moon) |
| Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 125 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 151 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1956

* A partial lunar eclipse on May 24.
* A total solar eclipse on June 8.
* A total lunar eclipse on November 18.
* A partial solar eclipse on December 2.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 14, 1953
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 20, 1960

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 21, 1949
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1964

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 28, 1947
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1965

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1946
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 2, 1967

### Solar Saros 151

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 21, 1938
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 13, 1974

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1927
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1985

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 31, 1870
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 3, 2043

### Solar eclipses of 1953–1956

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 February 14, 1953 and August 9, 1953 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1953 to 1956 :
| Descending node | Descending node | Descending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 116 | July 11, 1953 Partial | 1.4388 | 121 | January 5, 1954 Annular | −0.9296 |
| 126 | June 30, 1954 Total | 0.6135 | 131 | December 25, 1954 Annular | −0.2576 |
| 136 | June 20, 1955 Total | −0.1528 | 141 | December 14, 1955 Annular | 0.4266 |
| 146 | June 8, 1956 Total | −0.8934 | 151 | December 2, 1956 Partial | 1.0923 |

### Saros 151

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 151, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 14, 1776. It contains annular eclipses from February 28, 2101 through April 23, 2191; a hybrid eclipse on May 5, 2209; and total eclipses from May 16, 2227 through July 6, 2912. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on October 1, 3056. 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 19 at 2 minutes, 44 seconds on February 28, 2101, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 60 at 5 minutes, 41 seconds on May 22, 2840. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Series members 3–24 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 3 | 4 | 5 |
| September 5, 1812 | September 17, 1830 | September 27, 1848 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 |
| October 8, 1866 | October 19, 1884 | October 31, 1902 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 |
| November 10, 1920 | November 21, 1938 | December 2, 1956 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 |
| December 13, 1974 | December 24, 1992 | January 4, 2011 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 |
| January 14, 2029 | January 26, 2047 | February 5, 2065 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 |
| February 16, 2083 | February 28, 2101 | March 11, 2119 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
| March 21, 2137 | April 2, 2155 | April 12, 2173 |
| 24 |
| April 23, 2191 |

### 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 ascending node.
22 eclipse events between December 2, 1880 and July 9, 1964 :
| December 2–3 | September 20–21 | July 9–10 | April 26–28 | February 13–14 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
| December 2, 1880 | | July 9, 1888 | April 26, 1892 | February 13, 1896 |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
| December 3, 1899 | September 21, 1903 | July 10, 1907 | April 28, 1911 | February 14, 1915 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
| December 3, 1918 | September 21, 1922 | July 9, 1926 | April 28, 1930 | February 14, 1934 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
| December 2, 1937 | September 21, 1941 | July 9, 1945 | April 28, 1949 | February 14, 1953 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 |
| December 2, 1956 | September 20, 1960 | July 9, 1964 |

### 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 :
| March 13, 1812 (Saros 146) | February 21, 1841 (Saros 147) | January 31, 1870 (Saros 148) |
| January 11, 1899 (Saros 149) | December 24, 1927 (Saros 150) | December 2, 1956 (Saros 151) |
| November 12, 1985 (Saros 152) | October 23, 2014 (Saros 153) | October 3, 2043 (Saros 154) |
| September 12, 2072 (Saros 155) | August 24, 2101 (Saros 156) | August 4, 2130 (Saros 157) |
| July 15, 2159 (Saros 158) | June 24, 2188 (Saros 159) | |