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 Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

occurred at the Moon's

ascending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit between Sunday, May 30 and Monday, May 31, 1965, with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 1.0544. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 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 separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the '' visual ...

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 An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

(on June 1, 1965, at 19:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. 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 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, 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 Hilo () is the largest settlement in and the county seat of Hawaii County, Hawaiʻi, United States, which encompasses the Island of Hawaiʻi, and is a census-designated place (CDP). The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 census. I ...

, 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 Northland (), officially the Northland Region, is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 regions of New Zealand, local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout t ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on May 31 (Monday), and Manuae in

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

, Manuae and Motu One in

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

on May 30 (Sunday). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, and western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Observations

New Zealand, Australia, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

sent observation teams to Manuae, Cook Islands to observe the total eclipse. The New Zealand government deployed ships to transport passengers from

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 10,898 of a total population of 15,040. The Parliament of the Cook Islands, Coo ...

, the island where the national capital

Avarua Avarua (meaning "Two Harbours" in Cook Islands Māori) is a town and district in the north of the island of Rarotonga, and is the national Capital city, capital of the Cook Islands. The town is served by Rarotonga International Airport (IATA ...

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. In the northern part of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

, 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 A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

to obtain observation data from high altitude.

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.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, 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 A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1965

* A total solar eclipse on May 30. * A partial lunar eclipse on June 14. * An annular solar eclipse on November 23. * A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 8.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 11, 1961 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 18, 1969

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of April 19, 1958 Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit between Monday, July 10 and Tuesday, July 11, 1972, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0379. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and t ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of May 24, 1956 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of June 4, 1974

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of June 30, 1954 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, June 30, 1954, with a magnitude of 1.0357. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of April 29, 1976 Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate ...

Solar Saros 127

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of May 20, 1947 A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, May 20, 1947, with a magnitude of 1.0557. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 11, 1983

Inex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of June 19, 1936 file:1936 uludag.jpg, left, Astronomers in Turkey observing the 1936 eclipse A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit on Friday, June 19, 1936, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 1.0329. A solar ecl ...

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of May 10, 1994 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, descending node of orbit on Tuesday, May 10, 1994, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 0.9431. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totall ...

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 29, 1878 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of March 30, 2052 A total solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, March 30, 2052, with a magnitude of 1.0466. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

Solar eclipses of 1964–1967

Saros 127

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

External links

Russia expedition for solar eclipse of May 30, 1965
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solar Eclipse Of May 30, 1965 1965 05 30 1965 in science 1965 05 30 May 1965