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Solar eclipse of January 16, 1972

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Solar eclipse of January 16, 1972
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma−0.9365
Magnitude0.9692
Maximum eclipse
Duration113 s (1 min 53 s)
Coordinates74°54′S 107°42′E / 74.9°S 107.7°E / -74.9; 107.7
Max. width of band321 km (199 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse11:03:22
References
Saros121 (58 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9447

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, January 16, 1972,[1] with a magnitude of 0.9692. 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 7.3 days after apogee (on January 9, 1972, at 3:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.[2]

Annularity was visible from a part of Antarctica. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Antarctica and extreme southern South America.

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 16, 1972 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1972 January 16 at 08:45:57.2 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1972 January 16 at 10:22:15.3 UTC
First Central Line 1972 January 16 at 10:25:28.8 UTC
Greatest Duration 1972 January 16 at 10:25:28.8 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1972 January 16 at 10:28:57.8 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1972 January 16 at 10:33:15.2 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1972 January 16 at 10:53:05.1 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1972 January 16 at 11:03:22.3 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1972 January 16 at 11:38:09.6 UTC
Last Central Line 1972 January 16 at 11:41:35.3 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1972 January 16 at 11:44:45.6 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1972 January 16 at 13:20:54.1 UTC
January 16, 1972 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 0.96925
Eclipse Obscuration 0.93945
Gamma −0.93651
Sun Right Ascension 19h49m32.3s
Sun Declination -21°03'34.9"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'15.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9"
Moon Right Ascension 19h50m37.0s
Moon Declination -21°55'10.9"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'40.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'32.6"
ΔT 42.3 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 1972
January 16
Ascending node (new moon)
January 30
Descending node (full moon)
Annular solar eclipse
Solar Saros 121
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 133
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Eclipses in 1972

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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 121

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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 121

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 121, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 25, 944 AD. It contains total eclipses from July 10, 1070 through October 9, 1809; hybrid eclipses on October 20, 1827 and October 30, 1845; and annular eclipses from November 11, 1863 through February 28, 2044. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 7, 2206. 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 39 at 6 minutes, 20 seconds on June 21, 1629, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 62 at 2 minutes, 27 seconds on February 28, 2044. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[5]

Series members 49–70 occur between 1801 and 2200:
49 50 51

October 9, 1809

October 20, 1827

October 30, 1845
52 53 54

November 11, 1863

November 21, 1881

December 3, 1899
55 56 57

December 14, 1917

December 25, 1935

January 5, 1954
58 59 60

January 16, 1972

January 26, 1990

February 7, 2008
61 62 63

February 17, 2026

February 28, 2044

March 11, 2062
64 65 66

March 21, 2080

April 1, 2098

April 13, 2116
67 68 69

April 24, 2134

May 4, 2152

May 16, 2170
70

May 26, 2188

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.

20 eclipse events between June 10, 1964 and August 21, 2036
June 10–11 March 28–29 January 14–16 November 3 August 21–22
117 119 121 123 125

June 10, 1964

March 28, 1968

January 16, 1972

November 3, 1975

August 22, 1979
127 129 131 133 135

June 11, 1983

March 29, 1987

January 15, 1991

November 3, 1994

August 22, 1998
137 139 141 143 145

June 10, 2002

March 29, 2006

January 15, 2010

November 3, 2013

August 21, 2017
147 149 151 153 155

June 10, 2021

March 29, 2025

January 14, 2029

November 3, 2032

August 21, 2036

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

March 25, 1819
(Saros 107)

February 23, 1830
(Saros 108)

January 22, 1841
(Saros 109)

November 21, 1862
(Saros 111)

August 20, 1895
(Saros 114)

July 21, 1906
(Saros 115)

June 19, 1917
(Saros 116)

May 19, 1928
(Saros 117)

April 19, 1939
(Saros 118)

March 18, 1950
(Saros 119)

February 15, 1961
(Saros 120)

January 16, 1972
(Saros 121)

December 15, 1982
(Saros 122)

November 13, 1993
(Saros 123)

October 14, 2004
(Saros 124)

September 13, 2015
(Saros 125)

August 12, 2026
(Saros 126)

July 13, 2037
(Saros 127)

June 11, 2048
(Saros 128)

May 11, 2059
(Saros 129)

April 11, 2070
(Saros 130)

March 10, 2081
(Saros 131)

February 7, 2092
(Saros 132)

January 8, 2103
(Saros 133)

December 8, 2113
(Saros 134)

November 6, 2124
(Saros 135)

October 7, 2135
(Saros 136)

September 6, 2146
(Saros 137)

August 5, 2157
(Saros 138)

July 5, 2168
(Saros 139)

June 5, 2179
(Saros 140)

May 4, 2190
(Saros 141)

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 26, 1827
(Saros 116)

April 5, 1856
(Saros 117)

March 16, 1885
(Saros 118)

February 25, 1914
(Saros 119)

February 4, 1943
(Saros 120)

January 16, 1972
(Saros 121)

December 25, 2000
(Saros 122)

December 5, 2029
(Saros 123)

November 16, 2058
(Saros 124)

October 26, 2087
(Saros 125)

October 6, 2116
(Saros 126)

September 16, 2145
(Saros 127)

August 27, 2174
(Saros 128)

Notes

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  1. ^ "January 16, 1972 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 1972 Jan 16". 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 121". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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