Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997

Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997
Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997
	Total eclipse from Chita, Russia
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	0.9183
Magnitude	1.042
Maximum eclipse
Duration	170 s (2 min 50 s)
Coordinates	57°48′N 130°42′E / 57.8°N 130.7°E
Max. width of band	356 km (221 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	1:24:51
References
Saros	120 (60 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9501

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, March 9, 1997, with a magnitude of 1.042. 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. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Totality was visible in eastern Russia, Northern Mongolia, northern tip of Xinjiang and Northeastern China and eastern tip of Kazakhstan.

Unusual gravity variations[edit]

This solar eclipse is somewhat special in the sense that some unexplained gravity anomalies of about 7 $\times$ 10⁻⁸ m/s² during the solar eclipse were observed. Attempts (e.g., Van Flandern–Yang hypothesis) to explain these anomalies have not been able to reach a definite conclusion.^[1]

Observations[edit]

Russia[edit]

Russian Academy of Sciences sent an observation team near Lake Baikal to study multiple aspects of the solar corona, providing complement to the imperfections of the corona observation of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft.^[2]

China[edit]

In China, only a partial eclipse was visible from most areas. The path of totality covered only two narrow areas not adjacent to each other. In Northwestern China, it covered the northern part of Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang. In Northeast China, it covered the northern part of Hulunbuir League (now the city of Hulumbuir), Inner Mongolia and the northern part of neighbouring Daxing'anling Prefecture, Heilongjiang. Therefore, observations of the total eclipse in China are concentrated in these two areas.

In Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, the total phase occurred right after sunrise. By observing the change in the brightness in Altay, the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project concluded that the phrase of "day dawned twice in Zheng" in the ancient chronicle Bamboo Annals referred to a solar eclipse on April 21, 899 BC which also occurred right after sunrise, thus determining the year of the Battle of Muye and the starting year of the Zhou Dynasty.^[3] However, doubts also exist on this conclusion. For example, Douglas J. Keenan published on the journal East Asian History, stating that calculations show that the eclipse in 899 BC reduced the brightness perceived subjectively by a human observer by less than 25%, and clouds can even cause the same effect very often, thus questioning the conclusion.

Mohe County (now Mohe City), Heilongjiang, the northernmost county in China, was considered the best observation site in China due to the high solar zenith angle and the long duration of totality. Within the county, the longest duration occurred in Mohe Township (now Beiji Township), the northernmost township in China. Comet Hale–Bopp also appeared during totality, which also attracted many Chinese to travel to this northernmost town.^[4] In addition, the first amateur radio communication experiment during a total solar eclipse in mainland China,^[5] and China Central Television's first live broadcast of a solar eclipse^[6] were also completed there.

Images[edit]

Related eclipses[edit]

Solar eclipses of 1997–2000[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.^[7]

The partial solar eclipses on July 1, 2000 and December 25, 2000 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1997 to 2000
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
120 Totality in Chita, Russia	March 9, 1997 Total	0.9183	125	September 2, 1997 Partial	−1.0352
130 Totality near Guadeloupe	February 26, 1998 Total	0.2391	135	August 22, 1998 Annular	−0.2644
140	February 16, 1999 Annular	−0.4726	145 Totality in France	August 11, 1999 Total	0.5062
150	February 5, 2000 Partial	−1.2233	155	July 31, 2000 Partial	1.2166

Saros 120[edit]

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 120, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 27, 933 AD. It contains annular eclipses from August 11, 1059 through April 26, 1492; hybrid eclipses from May 8, 1510 through June 8, 1564; and total eclipses from June 20, 1582 through March 30, 2033. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 7, 2195. 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 11 at 6 minutes, 24 seconds on September 11, 1113, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 60 at 2 minutes, 50 seconds on March 9, 1997. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.^[8]

Series members 50–71 occur between 1801 and 2195:
50	51	52
November 19, 1816	November 30, 1834	December 11, 1852
53	54	55
December 22, 1870	January 1, 1889	January 14, 1907
56	57	58
January 24, 1925	February 4, 1943	February 15, 1961
59	60	61
February 26, 1979	March 9, 1997	March 20, 2015
62	63	64
March 30, 2033	April 11, 2051	April 21, 2069
65	66	67
May 2, 2087	May 14, 2105	May 25, 2123
68	69	70
June 4, 2141	June 16, 2159	June 26, 2177
71
July 7, 2195

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.^[9]

Octon series with 21 events between May 21, 1993 and August 2, 2065
May 20–21	March 8–9	December 25–26	October 13–14	August 1–2
98	100	102	104	106
May 21, 1955	March 9, 1959	December 26, 1962	October 14, 1966	August 2, 1970
108	110	112	114	116
May 21, 1974	March 9, 1978	December 26, 1981	October 14, 1985	August 1, 1989
118	120	122	124	126
May 21, 1993	March 9, 1997	December 25, 2000	October 14, 2004	August 1, 2008
128	130	132	134	136
May 20, 2012	March 9, 2016	December 26, 2019	October 14, 2023	August 2, 2027
138	140	142	144	146
May 21, 2031	March 9, 2035	December 26, 2038	October 14, 2042	August 2, 2046
148	150	152	154	156
May 20, 2050	March 9, 2054	December 26, 2057	October 13, 2061	August 2, 2065
158	160	162	164	166
May 20, 2069	March 8, 2073	December 26, 2076	October 13, 2080	August 1, 2084