This is a list of solar eclipses in the 20th century. During the period 1901 to 2000 there were 228

solar eclipses A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mon ...

of which 78 were partial, 73 were annular (two non-central), 71 were total (three non-central) and 6 were hybrids. The greatest number of eclipses in one year was five, in 1935, and one month, July 2000, had two eclipses.

Notable eclipses of the 20th century

* 29 May 1919: this total eclipse was photographed by

Arthur Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the lum ...

to verify

general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. ...

(see

Eddington experiment The Eddington experiment was an observational test of general relativity, organised by the British astronomers Frank Watson Dyson and Arthur Stanley Eddington in 1919. The observations were of the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 and were c ...

) * 20 June 1955: longest total eclipse between 1901 and 2000, lasting a maximum of 7 minutes and 8 seconds * 30 June 1973: a

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and t ...

jet flew along the path, thereby extending the length of totality to 74 min. * 29 March 1987: second hybrid eclipse in less than one year, the first being on 3 October 1986. * 11 July 1991: Solar eclipse with the shortest gamma, of only −0.00412. * 31 July 2000: the second solar eclipse within one calendar month, the first being on 1 July 2000.

Table

The table gives the date and time of the greatest eclipse (in dynamical time, which in this case is the time when the axis of the Moon's shadow cone passes closest to the centre of Earth). It also gives the type of eclipse (either Total, Annular, Partial or Hybrid) and for total and annular eclipses it gives the duration of the eclipse. The location of the greatest eclipse and the path width are also given, as well as the geographical areas affected.

References

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