Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973
Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973 | |
---|---|
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Annular |
Gamma | 0.4171 |
Magnitude | 0.9174 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 722 s (12 min 2 s) |
Coordinates | 1°06′N 48°30′W / 1.1°N 48.5°W |
Max. width of band | 345 km (214 mi) |
Times (UTC) | |
Greatest eclipse | 15:02:44 |
References | |
Saros | 141 (21 of 70) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9451 |
An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 24, 1973. 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. Annularity was visible from southern Mexico, southwestern Nicaragua, Costa Rica including the capital city San José, Panama, Colombia including the capital city Bogotá, southern Venezuela, Brazil, southern Guyana, southern Dutch Guiana (today's Suriname), southern French Guiana, Portuguese Cape Verde (today's Cape Verde) including the capital city Praia, Mauritania including the capital city Nouakchott, Spanish Sahara (today's Western Sahara), Mali, and Algeria.
The duration of annularity at maximum eclipse (closest to but slightly shorter than the longest duration) was 12 minutes, 2.5 seconds in the Atlantic Ocean near the Brazilian coast. It was the longest annular solar eclipse until January 14, 3080, but the Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955 lasted longer.[1]
Related eclipses
Solar eclipses of 1971-1974
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[2]
The partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1971 to 1974 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
116 | July 22, 1971 Partial |
1.513 | 121 | January 16, 1972 Annular |
−0.9365 | |
126 | July 10, 1972 Total |
0.6872 | 131 | January 4, 1973 Annular |
−0.2644 | |
136 | June 30, 1973 Total |
−0.0785 | 141 | December 24, 1973 Annular |
0.4171 | |
146 | June 20, 1974 Total |
−0.8239 | 151 | December 13, 1974 Partial |
1.0797 |
Saros 141
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 141, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 19, 1613. It contains annular eclipses from August 4, 1739 through October 14, 2640. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 13, 2857. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity was produced by member 20 at 12 minutes, 9 seconds on December 14, 1955. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[3]
Series members 12–33 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
---|---|---|
12 | 13 | 14 |
September 17, 1811 |
September 28, 1829 |
October 9, 1847 |
15 | 16 | 17 |
October 19, 1865 |
October 30, 1883 |
November 11, 1901 |
18 | 19 | 20 |
November 22, 1919 |
December 2, 1937 |
December 14, 1955 |
21 | 22 | 23 |
December 24, 1973 |
January 4, 1992 |
January 15, 2010 |
24 | 25 | 26 |
January 26, 2028 |
February 5, 2046 |
February 17, 2064 |
27 | 28 | 29 |
February 27, 2082 |
March 10, 2100 |
March 22, 2118 |
30 | 31 | 32 |
April 1, 2136 |
April 12, 2154 |
April 23, 2172 |
33 | ||
May 4, 2190 |
Metonic series
The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.
22 eclipse events between December 24, 1916 and July 31, 2000 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
December 24–25 | October 12 | July 31–August 1 | May 19–20 | March 7 |
111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
December 24, 1916 |
July 31, 1924 |
May 19, 1928 |
March 7, 1932 | |
121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
December 25, 1935 |
October 12, 1939 |
August 1, 1943 |
May 20, 1947 |
March 7, 1951 |
131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
December 25, 1954 |
October 12, 1958 |
July 31, 1962 |
May 20, 1966 |
March 7, 1970 |
141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
December 24, 1973 |
October 12, 1977 |
July 31, 1981 |
May 19, 1985 |
March 7, 1989 |
151 | 153 | 155 | ||
December 24, 1992 |
October 12, 1996 |
July 31, 2000 |
Notes
- ^ "Annular Solar Eclipses with Durations Exceeding 11m 00s: -3999 to 6000". NASA Eclipse Web Site.
- ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 141". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
References
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC