A hybrid solar eclipse occurred on Thursday, April 20, 2023. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A hybrid solar eclipse is a rare type of solar eclipse that changes its appearance from annular to total and back as the Moon's shadow moves across the Earth's surface.[1] Totality occurs in a narrow path across the surface of the Earth, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometers wide.[2] Hybrid solar eclipses are extremely rare, occurring in only 3.1% of solar eclipses in the 21st century.[3]
Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023 | |
---|---|
Map | |
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Hybrid |
Gamma | −0.3952 |
Magnitude | 1.0132 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 76 s (1 min 16 s) |
Coordinates | 9°36′S 125°48′E / 9.6°S 125.8°E |
Max. width of band | 49 km (30 mi) |
Times (UTC) | |
Greatest eclipse | 4:17:56 |
References | |
Saros | 129 (52 of 80) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9559 |
Totality for this eclipse was visible in the North West Cape peninsula and Barrow Island in Western Australia, eastern parts of East Timor, as well as Damar Island and parts of the province of Papua in Indonesia.[4] More than 20,000 people watched the eclipse from the town of Exmouth on Western Australia's North West Cape.[5] Providing infrastructure and services for the visitors (Exmouth's normal population is less than 3,000) cost the State Government of Western Australia A$20 million (US$13.5 million). The date marked a significant moment of astrotourism and tourism in Western Australia.[6]
Portions of the eclipse's path near sunrise and sunset were annular. With the eclipse occurring 4.1 days after perigee (April 16), the Moon's apparent diameter was 1.02% larger than average.[7]
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.[8]
Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
119 Partial from CTIO, Chile |
2022 April 30 Partial |
−1.19008 | 124 Partial from Saratov, Russia |
2022 October 25 Partial |
1.07014 | |
129 Total from East Timor |
2023 April 20 Hybrid |
−0.39515 | 134 Annular from Campeche, Mexico |
2023 October 14 Annular |
0.37534 | |
139 Total from Indianapolis, USA |
2024 April 8 Total |
0.34314 | 144 | 2024 October 2 Annular |
−0.35087 | |
149 | 2025 March 29 Partial |
1.04053 | 154 | 2025 September 21 Partial |
−1.06509 |
It is a part of Saros cycle 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 80 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on October 3, 1103. It contains annular eclipses on May 6, 1464 through March 18, 1969, hybrid eclipses from March 29, 1987 through April 20, 2023 and total eclipses from April 30, 2041 through July 26, 2185. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 21, 2528. The longest duration of totality was 3 minutes, 43 seconds on June 25, 2131 . All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.[9]
Series members 46–56 occur between 1901 and 2100: | ||
---|---|---|
46 | 47 | 48 |
February 14, 1915 |
February 24, 1933 |
March 7, 1951 |
49 | 50 | 51 |
March 18, 1969 |
March 29, 1987 |
April 8, 2005 |
52 | 53 | 54 |
April 20, 2023 April 30, 2041 |
May 11, 2059 | |
55 | 56 | |
May 22, 2077 |
June 2, 2095 |
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Inex series members between 1901 and 2100: | ||
---|---|---|
July 10, 1907 (Saros 125) |
June 19, 1936 (Saros 126) |
May 30, 1965 (Saros 127) |
May 10, 1994 (Saros 128) |
April 20, 2023 (Saros 129) |
March 30, 2052 (Saros 130) |
March 10, 2081 (Saros 131) |
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
Series members between 1901 and 2100 | |||
---|---|---|---|
March 29, 1903 (Saros 118) |
February 25, 1914 (Saros 119) |
January 24, 1925 (Saros 120) | |
December 25, 1935 (Saros 121) |
November 23, 1946 (Saros 122) |
October 23, 1957 (Saros 123) | |
September 22, 1968 (Saros 124) |
August 22, 1979 (Saros 125) |
July 22, 1990 (Saros 126) | |
June 21, 2001 (Saros 127) |
May 20, 2012 (Saros 128) |
April 20, 2023 (Saros 129) | |
March 20, 2034 (Saros 130) |
February 16, 2045 (Saros 131) |
January 16, 2056 (Saros 132) | |
December 17, 2066 (Saros 133) |
November 15, 2077 (Saros 134) |
October 14, 2088 (Saros 135) | |
September 14, 2099 (Saros 136) |
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 July 1, 2000 and July 1, 2076 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
July 1–2 | April 19–20 | February 5–7 | November 24–25 | September 12–13 |
117 | 119 | 121 | 123 | 125 |
July 1, 2000 |
April 19, 2004 |
February 7, 2008 |
November 25, 2011 |
September 13, 2015 |
127 | 129 | 131 | 133 | 135 |
July 2, 2019 |
April 20, 2023 February 6, 2027 |
November 25, 2030 |
September 12, 2034 | |
137 | 139 | 141 | 143 | 145 |
July 2, 2038 |
April 20, 2042 |
February 5, 2046 |
November 25, 2049 |
September 12, 2053 |
147 | 149 | 151 | 153 | 155 |
July 1, 2057 |
April 20, 2061 |
February 5, 2065 |
November 24, 2068 |
September 12, 2072 |
157 | 159 | 161 | 163 | 165 |
July 1, 2076 |