Solar eclipse of January 15, 1991

Solar eclipse of January 15, 1991
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	-0.2727
Magnitude	0.929
Maximum eclipse
Duration	473 sec (7 m 53 s)
Coordinates	36°24′S 170°24′W / 36.4°S 170.4°W
Max. width of band	277 km (172 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	23:53:51
References
Saros	131 (49 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9488

An annular solar eclipse occurred on January 15–16, 1991. 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 in southwestern West Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and French Polynesia. It was visible over Australia as a partial solar eclipse at sunrise on January 16.

Images[edit]

Related eclipses[edit]

Solar eclipses of 1990–1992[edit]

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] This semester series contains only 7 eclipses.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1990–1992
Ascending node		Descending node
Saros	Map	Saros	Map
121	1990 January 26 Annular	126	1990 July 22 Total
131	1991 January 15 Annular	136 From Playas del Coco	1991 July 11 Total
141	1992 January 4 Annular	146	1992 June 30 Total
151	1992 December 24 Partial

Saros 131[edit]

It is a part of Saros cycle 131, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 1, 1125. It contains total eclipses from March 27, 1522 through May 30, 1612 and hybrid eclipses from June 10, 1630 through July 24, 1702, and annular eclipses from August 4, 1720 through June 18, 2243. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on September 2, 2369. The longest duration of totality was only 58 seconds on May 30, 1612. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.

Series members 33–70 occur between 1702 and 2369
33	34	35
July 24, 1702	August 4, 1720	August 15, 1738
36	37	38
August 25, 1756	September 6, 1774	September 16, 1792
39	40	41
September 28, 1810	October 9, 1828	October 20, 1846
42	43	44
October 30, 1864	November 10, 1882	November 22, 1900
45	46	47
December 3, 1918	December 13, 1936	December 25, 1954
48	49	50
January 4, 1973	January 15, 1991	January 26, 2009
51	52	53
February 6, 2027	February 16, 2045	February 28, 2063
54	55	56
March 10, 2081	March 21, 2099	April 2, 2117
57	58	59
April 13, 2135	April 23, 2153	May 5, 2171
60	61	62
May 15, 2189	May 27, 2207	June 6, 2225
63	64	65
June 18, 2243	June 28, 2261	July 9, 2279
66	67	68
July 20, 2297	August 1, 2315	August 11, 2333
69	70
August 22, 2351	September 2, 2369

Metonic series[edit]

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.

21 eclipse events, progressing from south to north between June 10, 1964, and August 21, 2036
June 10–11	March 27–29	January 15–16	November 3	August 21–22
117	119	121	123	125
June 10, 1964	March 28, 1968	January 16, 1972	November 3, 1975	August 22, 1979
127	129	131	133	135
June 11, 1983	March 29, 1987	January 15, 1991	November 3, 1994	August 22, 1998
137	139	141	143	145
June 10, 2002	March 29, 2006	January 15, 2010	November 3, 2013	August 21, 2017
147	149	151	153	155
June 10, 2021	March 29, 2025	January 14, 2029	November 3, 2032	August 21, 2036