A total

solar eclipse 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 month ...

occurred on June 8–9, 1956. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

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 The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...

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. It began near sunrise over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on June 9 (Saturday), and ended west of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

on June 8 (Friday).

More details

Eclipse Magnitude: 1.05810 Eclipse Obscuration: 1.11958 Gamma: -0.89341 Saros Series: 146th (24 of 76) Greatest Eclipse: 08 Jun 1956 21:20:07.7 UTC (21:20:39.3 TD) Ecliptic Conjunction: 08 Jun 1956 21:29:07.4 UTC (21:29:39.0 TD) Equatorial Conjunction: 08 Jun 1856 21:20:45.9 UTC (21:21:17.5 TD) Sun right ascension: 5.13 Moon right ascension: 5.13 Earth's shadow right ascension: 17.13 Sun declination: 22.9 Moon declination: 22 Earth's shadow declination: -22.9 Sun diameter: 1890.4 arcseconds Moon diameter: 1985.8 arcseconds Path Width at Greatest Eclipse: 428.7 km (266.4 mi) Path Width at Greatest Duration: 428.7 km (266.4 mi) Central Duration at Greatest Eclipse: 4 minutes, 44.85 seconds Central Duration at Greatest Duration: 4 minutes, 44.86 seconds

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1953–1956

Saros 146

It is a part of Saros cycle 146, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 76 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on September 19, 1541. It contains total eclipses from May 29, 1938, through October 7, 2154, hybrid eclipses from October 17, 2172, through November 20, 2226, and annular eclipses from December 1, 2244, through August 10, 2659. The series ends at member 76 as a partial eclipse on December 29, 2893. The longest duration of totality was 5 minutes, 21 seconds on June 30, 1992.

Notes

References

1956 06 08 1956 in science 1956 06 08 June 1956 events Solar eclipses {{Solar-eclipse-stub