Solar eclipse of April 18, 1977
Solar eclipse of April 18, 1977 | |
---|---|
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Annular |
Gamma | −0.399 |
Magnitude | 0.9449 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 424 s (7 min 4 s) |
Coordinates | 11°54′S 28°18′E / 11.9°S 28.3°E |
Max. width of band | 220 km (140 mi) |
Times (UTC) | |
Greatest eclipse | 10:31:30 |
References | |
Saros | 138 (29 of 70) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9458 |
An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Monday, April 18, 1977, with a magnitude of 0.9449. 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 South West Africa (today's Namibia), Angola, Zambia, southeastern Zaire (today's Democratic Republic of Congo), northern Malawi, Tanzania, Seychelles and the whole British Indian Ocean Territory.
Related eclipses[edit]
Eclipses in 1977[edit]
- A partial lunar eclipse on April 4, 1977.
- An annular solar eclipse on April 18, 1977.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 27, 1977.
- A total solar eclipse on October 12, 1977.
Metonic[edit]
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1973
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981
Tzolkinex[edit]
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1984
Half-Saros[edit]
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 13, 1968
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 1986
Tritos[edit]
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 1966
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988
Solar Saros 138[edit]
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 1959
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1995
Inex[edit]
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006
Triad[edit]
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 17, 1890
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 17, 2064
Solar eclipses of 1975–1978[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 1975 to 1978 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
118 | May 11, 1975 Partial |
1.0647 | 123 | November 3, 1975 Partial |
−1.0248 | |
128 | April 29, 1976 Annular |
0.3378 | 133 | October 23, 1976 Total |
−0.327 | |
138 | April 18, 1977 Annular |
−0.399 | 143 | October 12, 1977 Total |
0.3836 | |
148 | April 7, 1978 Partial |
−1.1081 | 153 | October 2, 1978 Partial |
1.1616 |
Saros 138[edit]
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 138, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on June 6, 1472. It contains annular eclipses from August 31, 1598 through February 18, 2482; a hybrid eclipse on March 1, 2500; and total eclipses from March 12, 2518 through April 3, 2554. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on July 11, 2716. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity was produced by member 23 at 8 minutes, 2 seconds on February 11, 1869, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 61 at 56 seconds on April 3, 2554. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[2]
Series members 20–41 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
---|---|---|
20 | 21 | 22 |
January 10, 1815 |
January 20, 1833 |
February 1, 1851 |
23 | 24 | 25 |
February 11, 1869 |
February 22, 1887 |
March 6, 1905 |
26 | 27 | 28 |
March 17, 1923 |
March 27, 1941 |
April 8, 1959 |
29 | 30 | 31 |
April 18, 1977 |
April 29, 1995 |
May 10, 2013 |
32 | 33 | 34 |
May 21, 2031 |
May 31, 2049 |
June 11, 2067 |
35 | 36 | 37 |
June 22, 2085 |
July 4, 2103 |
July 14, 2121 |
38 | 39 | 40 |
July 25, 2139 |
August 5, 2157 |
August 16, 2175 |
41 | ||
August 26, 2193 |
Inex series[edit]
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: | ||
---|---|---|
May 29, 1919 (Saros 136) |
May 9, 1948 (Saros 137) |
April 18, 1977 (Saros 138) |
March 29, 2006 (Saros 139) |
March 9, 2035 (Saros 140) |
February 17, 2064 (Saros 141) |
January 27, 2093 (Saros 142) |
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 descending node.
22 eclipse events between September 12, 1931 and July 1, 2011. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
September 11-12 | June 30-July 1 | April 17-19 | February 4-5 | November 22-23 |
114 | 116 | 118 | 120 | 122 |
September 12, 1931 |
June 30, 1935 |
April 19, 1939 |
February 4, 1943 |
November 23, 1946 |
124 | 126 | 128 | 130 | 132 |
September 12, 1950 |
June 30, 1954 |
April 19, 1958 |
February 5, 1962 |
November 23, 1965 |
134 | 136 | 138 | 140 | 142 |
September 11, 1969 |
June 30, 1973 |
April 18, 1977 |
February 4, 1981 |
November 22, 1984 |
144 | 146 | 148 | 150 | 152 |
September 11, 1988 |
June 30, 1992 |
April 17, 1996 |
February 5, 2000 |
November 23, 2003 |
154 | 156 | |||
September 11, 2007 |
July 1, 2011 |
Notes[edit]
- ^ 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.
- ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 138". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
References[edit]
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC