Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, April 20, 2023,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0132. It was a hybrid event, a narrow total eclipse, and beginning and ending as an annular eclipse. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A hybrid solar eclipse is a rare type of solar eclipse that changes its appearance from annular to total and back as the Moon's shadow moves across the Earth's surface.[2] Totality occurs between the annularity paths across the surface of the Earth, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide.[3] Hybrid solar eclipses are extremely rare, occurring in only 3.1% of solar eclipses in the 21st century.[4] Occurring about 4.1 days after perigee (on April 16, 2023, at 3:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[5][6]

Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023
Partial from Magetan, Indonesia
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureHybrid
Gamma−0.3952
Magnitude1.0132
Maximum eclipse
Duration76 s (1 min 16 s)
Coordinates9°36′S 125°48′E / 9.6°S 125.8°E / -9.6; 125.8
Max. width of band49 km (30 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse4:17:56
References
Saros129 (52 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)9559

Totality for this eclipse was visible in the North West Cape peninsula and Barrow Island in Western Australia, eastern parts of East Timor, as well as Damar Island and parts of the province of Papua in Indonesia.[7] A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Antarctica, Australia, Oceania, and Southeast Asia. More than 20,000 people watched the eclipse from the town of Exmouth on Western Australia's North West Cape.[8] Providing infrastructure and services for the visitors (Exmouth's normal population is less than 3,000) cost the State Government of Western Australia A$20 million (US$13.5 million). The date marked a significant moment of astrotourism and tourism in Western Australia.[9]

Images

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Animated path of the eclipse
Animation of images from Himawari 9 showing the Moon's shadow moving across the Earth.
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Australia

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East Timor

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Indonesia

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Malaysia

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Philippines

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Vietnam

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Eclipse details

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Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[10]

April 20, 2023 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 2023 April 20 at 01:35:34.3 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 2023 April 20 at 02:38:15.0 UTC
First Central Line 2023 April 20 at 02:38:18.4 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 2023 April 20 at 02:38:21.7 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact 2023 April 20 at 03:54:32.2 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 2023 April 20 at 03:56:44.7 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 2023 April 20 at 04:13:41.1 UTC
Greatest Duration 2023 April 20 at 04:17:26.8 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 2023 April 20 at 04:17:56.0 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact 2023 April 20 at 04:41:47.9 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 2023 April 20 at 05:57:41.3 UTC
Last Central Line 2023 April 20 at 05:57:47.4 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 2023 April 20 at 05:57:53.5 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 2023 April 20 at 07:00:31.9 UTC
April 20, 2023 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.01320
Eclipse Obscuration 1.02657
Gamma −0.39515
Sun Right Ascension 01h51m01.7s
Sun Declination +11°24'54.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'55.4"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 01h51m43.2s
Moon Declination +11°04'16.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'53.6"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°58'19.9"
ΔT 71.1 s

Eclipse season

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This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.

Eclipse season of April–May 2023
April 20
Ascending node (new moon)
May 5
Descending node (full moon)
   
Hybrid solar eclipse
Solar Saros 129
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 141
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Eclipses in 2023

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Solar Saros 129

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 2022–2025

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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.[11]

Solar eclipse series sets from 2022 to 2025
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
119
 
Partial in CTIO, Chile
April 30, 2022
 
Partial
−1.19008 124
 
Partial from Saratov, Russia
October 25, 2022
 
Partial
1.07014
129
 
Partial in Magetan, Indonesia
April 20, 2023
 
Hybrid
−0.39515 134
 
Annularity in Hobbs, NM, USA
October 14, 2023
 
Annular
0.37534
139
 
Totality in Dallas, TX, USA
April 8, 2024
 
Total
0.34314 144 October 2, 2024
 
Annular
−0.35087
149 March 29, 2025
 
Partial
1.04053 154 September 21, 2025
 
Partial
−1.06509

Saros 129

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 3, 1103. It contains annular eclipses from 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. 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 34 at 5 minutes, 10 seconds on October 4, 1698, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 58 at 3 minutes, 43 seconds on June 25, 2131. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[12]

Series members 40–61 occur between 1801 and 2200:
40 41 42
 
December 10, 1806
 
December 20, 1824
 
December 31, 1842
43 44 45
 
January 11, 1861
 
January 22, 1879
 
February 1, 1897
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 57
 
May 22, 2077
 
June 2, 2095
 
June 13, 2113
58 59 60
 
June 25, 2131
 
July 5, 2149
 
July 16, 2167
61
 
July 26, 2185

Metonic series

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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.

21 eclipse events between July 1, 2000 and July 1, 2076
July 1–2 April 19–20 February 5–7 November 24–25 September 12–13
117 119 121 123 125
 
July 1, 2000
 
April 19, 2004
 
February 7, 2008
 
November 25, 2011
 
September 13, 2015
127 129 131 133 135
 
July 2, 2019
 
April 20, 2023
 
February 6, 2027
 
November 25, 2030
 
September 12, 2034
137 139 141 143 145
 
July 2, 2038
 
April 20, 2042
 
February 5, 2046
 
November 25, 2049
 
September 12, 2053
147 149 151 153 155
 
July 1, 2057
 
April 20, 2061
 
February 5, 2065
 
November 24, 2068
 
September 12, 2072
157
 
July 1, 2076

Tritos series

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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.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
 
January 1, 1805
(Saros 109)
 
October 31, 1826
(Saros 111)
 
August 28, 1848
(Saros 113)
 
July 29, 1859
(Saros 114)
 
June 28, 1870
(Saros 115)
 
May 27, 1881
(Saros 116)
 
April 26, 1892
(Saros 117)
 
March 29, 1903
(Saros 118)
 
February 25, 1914
(Saros 119)
 
January 24, 1925
(Saros 120)
 
December 25, 1935
(Saros 121)
 
November 23, 1946
(Saros 122)
 
October 23, 1957
(Saros 123)
 
September 22, 1968
(Saros 124)
 
August 22, 1979
(Saros 125)
 
July 22, 1990
(Saros 126)
 
June 21, 2001
(Saros 127)
 
May 20, 2012
(Saros 128)
 
April 20, 2023
(Saros 129)
 
March 20, 2034
(Saros 130)
 
February 16, 2045
(Saros 131)
 
January 16, 2056
(Saros 132)
 
December 17, 2066
(Saros 133)
 
November 15, 2077
(Saros 134)
 
October 14, 2088
(Saros 135)
 
September 14, 2099
(Saros 136)
 
August 15, 2110
(Saros 137)
 
July 14, 2121
(Saros 138)
 
June 13, 2132
(Saros 139)
 
May 14, 2143
(Saros 140)
 
April 12, 2154
(Saros 141)
 
March 12, 2165
(Saros 142)
 
February 10, 2176
(Saros 143)
 
January 9, 2187
(Saros 144)
 
December 9, 2197
(Saros 145)

Inex series

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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.

Series members between 1801 and 2200
 
September 7, 1820
(Saros 122)
 
August 18, 1849
(Saros 123)
 
July 29, 1878
(Saros 124)
 
July 10, 1907
(Saros 125)
 
June 19, 1936
(Saros 126)
 
May 30, 1965
(Saros 127)
 
May 10, 1994
(Saros 128)
 
April 20, 2023
(Saros 129)
 
March 30, 2052
(Saros 130)
 
March 10, 2081
(Saros 131)
 
February 18, 2110
(Saros 132)
 
January 30, 2139
(Saros 133)
 
January 10, 2168
(Saros 134)
 
December 19, 2196
(Saros 135)

References

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  1. ^ "April 20, 2023 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Lunar eclipse 2023: The rare celestial event which will not happen again till 2042". India Today (Press release). Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  3. ^ "How to view this week's rare hybrid eclipse". CNN. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Hybrid solar eclipse: Everything you need to know about the rare and strange phenomenon". Space.com. 20 November 2022. Archived from the original on 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  5. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Solar Eclipse 2023 Date, Time First Solar Eclipse of 2023". gotopnews.com. 20 April 2023. Archived from the original on 20 April 2023.
  7. ^ Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 2023 Apr 20 Archived 2021-01-17 at the Wayback Machine, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  8. ^ "Solar eclipse chasers descend on tiny Western Australian town to experience 'wonders of the universe'". The Guardian. 20 April 2023. Archived from the original on 20 April 2023.
  9. ^ Marcus, Lilit (19 April 2023). "How a solar eclipse could change this small Australian town forever". CNN. Archived from the original on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  10. ^ "Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 2023 Apr 20". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 129". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
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