Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Thursday, January 4, 1973,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9303. 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. Occurring about 3.75 days after apogee (on December 31, 1972, at 21:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]

Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma−0.2644
Magnitude0.9303
Maximum eclipse
Duration469 s (7 min 49 s)
Coordinates37°54′S 51°12′W / 37.9°S 51.2°W / -37.9; -51.2
Max. width of band271 km (168 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse15:46:21
References
Saros131 (48 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)9449

Annularity was visible from Chile and Argentina. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern and central South America, Antarctica, West Africa, and Southern Africa.

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.[3]

January 4, 1973 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1973 January 04 at 12:44:40.6 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1973 January 04 at 13:50:14.3 UTC
First Central Line 1973 January 04 at 13:53:17.7 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1973 January 04 at 13:56:21.3 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact 1973 January 04 at 15:07:01.4 UTC
Greatest Duration 1973 January 04 at 15:35:51.4 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1973 January 04 at 15:39:50.9 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1973 January 04 at 15:43:12.3 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1973 January 04 at 15:46:20.7 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1973 January 04 at 16:25:50.8 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1973 January 04 at 17:36:25.9 UTC
Last Central Line 1973 January 04 at 17:39:27.4 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1973 January 04 at 17:42:28.4 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1973 January 04 at 18:47:58.6 UTC
January 4, 1973 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.93032
Eclipse Obscuration 0.86549
Gamma −0.26441
Sun Right Ascension 19h01m31.4s
Sun Declination -22°41'24.6"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'15.9"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 19h01m44.3s
Moon Declination -22°55'32.0"
Moon Semi-Diameter 14'54.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'43.6"
ΔT 43.4 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 January 1973
January 4
Ascending node (new moon)
January 18
Descending node (full moon)
   
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 131
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 143
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Eclipses in 1973

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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 131

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1971–1974

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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.[4]

The partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1971 to 1974
Descending node   Ascending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
116 July 22, 1971
 
Partial
1.513 121 January 16, 1972
 
Annular
−0.9365
126 July 10, 1972
 
Total
0.6872 131 January 4, 1973
 
Annular
−0.2644
136 June 30, 1973
 
Total
−0.0785 141 December 24, 1973
 
Annular
0.4171
146 June 20, 1974
 
Total
−0.8239 151 December 13, 1974
 
Partial
1.0797

Saros 131

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 1, 1125. It contains total eclipses from March 27, 1522 through May 30, 1612; hybrid eclipses from June 10, 1630 through July 24, 1702; and annular eclipses from August 4, 1720 through June 18, 2243. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on September 2, 2369. 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 totality was produced by member 28 at 58 seconds on May 30, 1612, and the longest duration of annularity was produced by member 50 at 7 minutes, 54 seconds on January 26, 2009. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[5]

Series members 39–60 occur between 1801 and 2200:
39 40 41
 
September 28, 1810
 
October 9, 1828
 
October 20, 1846
42 43 44
 
October 30, 1864
 
November 10, 1882
 
November 22, 1900
45 46 47
 
December 3, 1918
 
December 13, 1936
 
December 25, 1954
48 49 50
 
January 4, 1973
 
January 15, 1991
 
January 26, 2009
51 52 53
 
February 6, 2027
 
February 16, 2045
 
February 28, 2063
54 55 56
 
March 10, 2081
 
March 21, 2099
 
April 2, 2117
57 58 59
 
April 13, 2135
 
April 23, 2153
 
May 5, 2171
60
 
May 15, 2189

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.

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

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
 
April 14, 1809
(Saros 116)
 
March 14, 1820
(Saros 117)
 
February 12, 1831
(Saros 118)
 
January 11, 1842
(Saros 119)
 
December 11, 1852
(Saros 120)
 
November 11, 1863
(Saros 121)
 
October 10, 1874
(Saros 122)
 
September 8, 1885
(Saros 123)
 
August 9, 1896
(Saros 124)
 
July 10, 1907
(Saros 125)
 
June 8, 1918
(Saros 126)
 
May 9, 1929
(Saros 127)
 
April 7, 1940
(Saros 128)
 
March 7, 1951
(Saros 129)
 
February 5, 1962
(Saros 130)
 
January 4, 1973
(Saros 131)
 
December 4, 1983
(Saros 132)
 
November 3, 1994
(Saros 133)
 
October 3, 2005
(Saros 134)
 
September 1, 2016
(Saros 135)
 
August 2, 2027
(Saros 136)
 
July 2, 2038
(Saros 137)
 
May 31, 2049
(Saros 138)
 
April 30, 2060
(Saros 139)
 
March 31, 2071
(Saros 140)
 
February 27, 2082
(Saros 141)
 
January 27, 2093
(Saros 142)
 
December 29, 2103
(Saros 143)
 
November 27, 2114
(Saros 144)
 
October 26, 2125
(Saros 145)
 
September 26, 2136
(Saros 146)
 
August 26, 2147
(Saros 147)
 
July 25, 2158
(Saros 148)
 
June 25, 2169
(Saros 149)
 
May 24, 2180
(Saros 150)
 
April 23, 2191
(Saros 151)

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
 
April 14, 1828
(Saros 126)
 
March 25, 1857
(Saros 127)
 
March 5, 1886
(Saros 128)
 
February 14, 1915
(Saros 129)
 
January 25, 1944
(Saros 130)
 
January 4, 1973
(Saros 131)
 
December 14, 2001
(Saros 132)
 
November 25, 2030
(Saros 133)
 
November 5, 2059
(Saros 134)
 
October 14, 2088
(Saros 135)
 
September 26, 2117
(Saros 136)
 
September 6, 2146
(Saros 137)
 
August 16, 2175
(Saros 138)

Notess

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  1. ^ "January 4, 1973 Annular Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Annular Solar Eclipse of 1973 Jan 04". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 131". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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