Solar eclipse of March 18, 1969

Summary

An annular solar eclipse occurred on March 18, 1969. 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 part of Indonesia, and two atolls (Faraulep and Gaferut) in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands which belongs to the Federated States of Micronesia now.

Solar eclipse of March 18, 1969
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma−0.2704
Magnitude0.9954
Maximum eclipse
Duration26 s (0 min 26 s)
Coordinates14°48′S 116°18′E / 14.8°S 116.3°E / -14.8; 116.3
Max. width of band16 km (9.9 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse4:54:57
References
Saros129 (49 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)9440

Related eclipses edit

Solar eclipses of 1968–1971 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 1968 to 1971
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
119  
1968 March 28
Partial
−1.03704 124  
1968 September 22
Total
0.94507
129  
1969 March 18Annular −0.27037 134  
1969 September 11
Annular
0.22014
139  
1970 March 7
Total
0.44728 144  
1970 August 31
Annular
−0.53640
149  
1971 February 25
Partial
1.11876 154  
1971 August 20
Partial
−1.26591
A partial solar eclipse of July 22, 1971 occurs in the next lunar year set.

Saros 129 edit

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.[2]

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

Tritos series edit

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.

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.

22 eclipse events between January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018
January 4-5 October 23-24 August 10-12 May 30-31 March 18-19
111 113 115 117 119
 
January 5, 1935
 
August 12, 1942
 
May 30, 1946
 
March 18, 1950
121 123 125 127 129
 
January 5, 1954
 
October 23, 1957
 
August 11, 1961
 
May 30, 1965
 
March 18, 1969 131 133 135 137 139  
January 4, 1973
 
October 23, 1976
 
August 10, 1980
 
May 30, 1984
 
March 18, 1988
141 143 145 147 149
 
January 4, 1992
 
October 24, 1995
 
August 11, 1999
 
May 31, 2003
 
March 19, 2007
151 153 155
 
January 4, 2011
 
October 23, 2014
 
August 11, 2018

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.
  2. ^ Espenak, F. "NASA Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 129". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References edit

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