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Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987

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Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureHybrid
Gamma−0.3053
Magnitude1.0013
Maximum eclipse
Duration8 s (0 min 8 s)
Coordinates12°18′S 2°18′W / 12.3°S 2.3°W / -12.3; -2.3
Max. width of band5 km (3.1 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse12:49:47
References
Saros129 (50 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)9480

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, March 29, 1987,[1] with a magnitude of 1.0013. It was a hybrid event, with only a fraction of its path as total, and longer sections at the start and end as an annular eclipse. The eclipse lasted a maximum of only 7.57 seconds. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was larger because it occurred 4.7 days after perigee (on March 24, 1987, at 19:00 UTC) and 7.8 days before apogee (on April 6, 1987, at 7:40 UTC).[2]

Totality of this eclipse was not visible on any land, while annularity was visible in southern Argentina, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (part of the path of annularity crossed today's South Sudan), Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somaliland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern and central South America, Antarctica, Africa, and the Middle East.

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]

March 29, 1987 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1987 March 29 at 10:03:29.8 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1987 March 29 at 11:05:14.4 UTC
First Central Line 1987 March 29 at 11:05:40.9 UTC
Greatest Duration 1987 March 29 at 11:05:40.9 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1987 March 29 at 11:06:07.5 UTC
First Penumbral Internal Contact 1987 March 29 at 12:14:03.2 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1987 March 29 at 12:31:19.9 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1987 March 29 at 12:46:28.0 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1987 March 29 at 12:49:47.3 UTC
Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1987 March 29 at 13:25:55.5 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1987 March 29 at 14:33:36.4 UTC
Last Central Line 1987 March 29 at 14:34:05.6 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1987 March 29 at 14:34:34.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1987 March 29 at 15:36:18.1 UTC
March 29, 1987 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.00134
Eclipse Obscuration 1.00267
Gamma −0.30531
Sun Right Ascension 00h30m29.5s
Sun Declination +03°17'32.1"
Sun Semi-Diameter 16'01.1"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 00h31m03.7s
Moon Declination +03°02'04.7"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'47.7"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'58.2"
ΔT 55.4 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 March–April 1987
March 29
Ascending node (new moon)
April 14
Descending node (full moon)
Hybrid solar eclipse
Solar Saros 129
Penumbral lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 141
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Eclipses in 1987

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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 1986–1989

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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]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1986 to 1989
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
119 April 9, 1986

Partial
−1.0822 124 October 3, 1986

Hybrid
0.9931
129 March 29, 1987

Hybrid
−0.3053 134 September 23, 1987

Annular
0.2787
139 March 18, 1988

Total
0.4188 144 September 11, 1988

Annular
−0.4681
149 March 7, 1989

Partial
1.0981 154 August 31, 1989

Partial
−1.1928

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.[5]

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.

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

September 8, 1801
(Saros 112)

August 7, 1812
(Saros 113)

July 8, 1823
(Saros 114)

June 7, 1834
(Saros 115)

May 6, 1845
(Saros 116)

April 5, 1856
(Saros 117)

March 6, 1867
(Saros 118)

February 2, 1878
(Saros 119)

January 1, 1889
(Saros 120)

December 3, 1899
(Saros 121)

November 2, 1910
(Saros 122)

October 1, 1921
(Saros 123)

August 31, 1932
(Saros 124)

August 1, 1943
(Saros 125)

June 30, 1954
(Saros 126)

May 30, 1965
(Saros 127)

April 29, 1976
(Saros 128)

March 29, 1987
(Saros 129)

February 26, 1998
(Saros 130)

January 26, 2009
(Saros 131)

December 26, 2019
(Saros 132)

November 25, 2030
(Saros 133)

October 25, 2041
(Saros 134)

September 22, 2052
(Saros 135)

August 24, 2063
(Saros 136)

July 24, 2074
(Saros 137)

June 22, 2085
(Saros 138)

May 22, 2096
(Saros 139)

April 23, 2107
(Saros 140)

March 22, 2118
(Saros 141)

February 18, 2129
(Saros 142)

January 20, 2140
(Saros 143)

December 19, 2150
(Saros 144)

November 17, 2161
(Saros 145)

October 17, 2172
(Saros 146)

September 16, 2183
(Saros 147)

August 16, 2194
(Saros 148)

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

July 27, 1813
(Saros 123)

July 8, 1842
(Saros 124)

June 18, 1871
(Saros 125)

May 28, 1900
(Saros 126)

May 9, 1929
(Saros 127)

April 19, 1958
(Saros 128)

March 29, 1987
(Saros 129)

March 9, 2016
(Saros 130)

February 16, 2045
(Saros 131)

January 27, 2074
(Saros 132)

January 8, 2103
(Saros 133)

December 19, 2131
(Saros 134)

November 27, 2160
(Saros 135)

November 8, 2189
(Saros 136)

Notes

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  1. ^ "March 29, 1987 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1987 Mar 29". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 9 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 129". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

References

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