Solar eclipse of July 31, 1962

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, July 31, 1962, with a magnitude of 0.9716. 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 only 4.7 days before apogee (on August 5, 1962), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. This solar eclipse occurred 44 days after the final game of 1962 FIFA World Cup.

Places inside the annular eclipse included Venezuela, northern Roraima in Brazil, Guyana, Dutch Guiana (today's Suriname) including the capital city Paramaribo, Senegal, Gambia Colony and Protectorate (today's Gambia) including the southern part of the capital city Banjul, Mali including the capital city Bamako, Upper Volta (today's Burkina Faso), Ghana, Togo, Dahomey (today's Benin), Nigeria, Cameroon including the capital city Yaoundé, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Léopoldville (today's DR Congo), Tanganyika (now belonging to Tanzania), northeastern tip of Portuguese Mozambique (today's Mozambique), French Comoros (today's Comoros), Mayotte, and the Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). The greatest eclipse was in the area of Kouoro, Mali at 12 N, 5.7 W at 12:25 (UTC) and lasted for 3 minutes.

Eclipses in 1962

 * A total solar eclipse on February 5, 1962.
 * A penumbral lunar eclipse on February 19, 1962.
 * A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 17, 1962.
 * An annular solar eclipse on July 31, 1962.
 * A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 15, 1962.

Metonic

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 12, 1958
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 1966

Tzolkinex

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 20, 1955
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 11, 1969

Half-Saros

 * Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 26, 1953
 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 6, 1971

Tritos

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 1, 1951
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1973

Solar Saros 135

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1944
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 10, 1980

Inex

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 21, 1933
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991

Triad

 * Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 29, 1875
 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 31, 2049