Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981
Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981 | |
---|---|
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Annular |
Gamma | −0.4838 |
Magnitude | 0.9937 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 33 s (0 min 33 s) |
Coordinates | 44°24′S 140°48′W / 44.4°S 140.8°W |
Max. width of band | 25 km (16 mi) |
Times (UTC) | |
Greatest eclipse | 22:09:24 |
References | |
Saros | 140 (27 of 71) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9466 |
An annular solar eclipse occurred on February 4–5, 1981. 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. It was visible in Australia, crossing over Tasmania and southern Stewart Island of New Zealand near sunrise on February 5th, and ended at sunset over western South America.
Related eclipses
Solar eclipses of 1979-1982
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.[1]
The partial solar eclipses on June 21, 1982 and December 15, 1982 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1979 to 1982 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
120![]() Totality in Brandon, MB, Canada |
February 26, 1979![]() Total |
0.8981 | 125 | August 22, 1979![]() Annular |
−0.9632 | |
130 | February 16, 1980![]() Total |
0.2224 | 135 | August 10, 1980![]() Annular |
−0.1915 | |
140 | February 4, 1981![]() Annular |
−0.4838 | 145 | July 31, 1981![]() Total |
0.5792 | |
150 | January 25, 1982![]() Partial |
−1.2311 | 155 | July 20, 1982![]() Partial |
1.2886 |
Notes
- ^ 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.
References
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Annular Solar Eclipse Observed for Solar Radius Determination Observed from Tasmania, by Fiala, A. D., Herald, D., & Dunham, D. W, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 13, p. 552
- Correcting predictions of solar eclipse contact times for the effects of lunar limb irregularities Observations from Tasmania by Herald, D. Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol.93, no.6, p. 241-246
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