Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973

Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature Annular
Gamma 0.4171
Magnitude 0.9174
Maximum eclipse
Duration 722 sec (12 m 2 s)
Coordinates 1°06′N 48°30′W / 1.1°N 48.5°W / 1.1; -48.5
Max. width of band 345 km (214 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse 15:02:44
References
Saros 141 (21 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000) 9451

An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 24, 1973. 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 southern Mexico, southwestern Nicaragua, Costa Rica including the capital city San José, Panama, Colombia including the capital city Bogotá, southern Venezuela, Brazil, southern Guyana, southern Dutch Guiana (today's Suriname), southern French Guiana, Portuguese Cape Verde (today's Cape Verde) including the capital city Praia, Mauritania including the capital city Nouakchott, Spanish Sahara (today's Western Sahara), Mali, and Algeria.

The duration of annularity at maximum eclipse (closest to but slightly shorter than the longest duration) was 12 minutes, 2.5 seconds in the Atlantic Ocean near the Brazilian coast. It was the longest annular solar eclipse until January 14, 3080, but the Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955 lasted longer.[1]

Solar eclipses of 1971-1974

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.[2]

Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the next lunar year set.

Saros 141

Solar Saros 141 repeats every 18 years, 11 days and contains 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 19, 1613. It contains annular eclipses from August 4, 1739 through October 14, 2460. There are no total eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 13, 2857. [3]

Metonic series

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

  1. ↑ "Annular Solar Eclipses with Durations Exceeding 11m 00s: -3999 to 6000". NASA Eclipse Web Site.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 141". Eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2012-03-15.

References


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