solar eclipse of April 19, 1939

{{short description|20th-century annular solar eclipse}}

{{Infobox solar eclipse|1939Apr19

| previous = Solar eclipse of November 21, 1938

| next = Solar eclipse of October 12, 1939

}}

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Wednesday, April 19, 1939,{{cite web|title=April 19, 1939 Annular Solar Eclipse|url=https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/1939-april-19|publisher=timeanddate|access-date=3 August 2024}} with a magnitude of 0.9731. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 6.3 days after apogee (on April 13, 1939, at 9:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.{{cite web|title=Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England|url=https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/distance.html?year=1939&n=136|publisher=timeanddate|access-date=3 August 2024}}

This annular eclipse is notable in that the path of annularity passed over the North Pole. Land covered in the path include part of Alaska, Canada, and Franz Josef Land, Ushakov Island and Vize Island in the Soviet Union (today's Russia). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of North America and Western Europe. This was umbral eclipse number 56 out of 57 in Solar Saros 118, this is the last central solar eclipse, and the penultimate umbral eclipse, with the last (ultimate) one in 1957.