Solar eclipse of January 25, 1963

Summary

An annular solar eclipse occurred on January 25, 1963. 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. The path of annularity crossed Chile, Argentina, South Africa, southern Basutoland (today's Lesotho) and Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar). Occurring 3.7 days before perigee (Perigee on January 29, 1963), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. The moon was 374,860 km (232,927 mi) from the Earth.

Solar eclipse of January 25, 1963
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma−0.4898
Magnitude0.9951
Maximum eclipse
Duration25 s (0 min 25 s)
Coordinates48°12′S 15°00′W / 48.2°S 15°W / -48.2; -15
Max. width of band20 km (12 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse13:37:12
References
Saros140 (26 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9426

The moon's apparent diameter was 4.8 arcseconds larger than the July 20, 1963 total solar eclipse. This was an annular solar eclipse because it occurred in January and in January the earth is near its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun).

Related eclipses edit

Solar eclipses of 1961–1964 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]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1961 to 1964
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Map Saros Map
120  
1961 February 15
Total
125  
1961 August 11
Annular
130  
1962 February 5
Total
135  
1962 July 31
Annular
140  
1963 January 25Annular 145  
1963 July 20
Total
150  
1964 January 14
Partial
155  
1964 July 9
Partial
Partial solar eclipses of June 10, 1964 and December 4, 1964 belong in the next lunar year set.

Saros 140 edit

It is a part of Saros cycle 140, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on April 16, 1512. It contains total eclipses from July 21, 1656 through November 9, 1836, hybrid eclipses from November 20, 1854, through December 23, 1908, and annular eclipses from January 3, 1927 through December 7, 2485. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 1, 2774. The longest duration of totality was 4 minutes, 10 seconds on August 12, 1692.

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).

Notes edit

  1. ^ 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 edit

  • Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
    • Google interactive map
    • Besselian elements