A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, May 20, 1947,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0557.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter 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.

[2] Totality was visible from Chile including the capital city Santiago, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Liberia, French West Africa (the parts now belonging to Ivory Coast and Benin), British Gold Coast (today's Ghana) including capital Accra, French Togoland (today's Togo) including capital Lomé, British Nigeria (today's Nigeria) including capital Lagos, French Cameroons (now belonging to Cameroon), French Equatorial Africa (the parts now belonging to Central African Republic and R. Congo), Belgian Congo (today's DR Congo), British Uganda (today's Uganda), British Tanganyika (now belonging to Tanzania), and British Kenya (today's Kenya).

The southern part of Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside Asia, and Iguazu Falls, one of the largest waterfalls systems in the world, lay in the path of totality.

Although a slight part of sunlight was seen through the gaps in the clouds around the first contact (the beginning of the partial phase), the weather did not improve after that.

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 127, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 82 events.

Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee).