Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973

Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	0.4171
Magnitude	0.9174
Maximum eclipse
Duration	722 sec (12 m 2 s)
Coordinates	1°06′N 48°30′W / 1.1°N 48.5°W
Max. width of band	345 km (214 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	15:02:44
References
Saros	141 (21 of 70)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9451

An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 24, 1973. 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.

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1971-1974

Each member 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.

Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the next lunar year set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1971-1974

Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Map		Saros	Map
116	July 22, 1971 Partial		121	January 16, 1972 Annular
126	July 10, 1972 Total		131	January 4, 1973 Annular
136	June 30, 1973 Total		141	December 24, 1973 Annular
146	June 20, 1974 Total		151	December 13, 1974 Partial

Saros 141

Solar Saros 141 repeats every 18 years, 11 days and contains 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 19, 1613. It contains annular eclipses from August 4, 1739 through October 14, 2460. There are no total eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 13, 2857. ^[1]

Series members 17–28 occur between 1901 and 2100
17	18	19
November 11, 1901	November 22, 1919	December 2, 1937
20	21	22
December 14, 1955	December 24, 1973	January 4, 1992
23	24	25
January 15, 2010	January 26, 2028	February 5, 2046
26	27	28
February 17, 2064	February 27, 2082	March 10, 2100

Metonic series

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).

21 eclipse events between July 31, 1924 and July 31, 2000
July 31-Aug 1	May 19-20	March 7	December 24-25	October 12
115	117	119	121	123
July 31, 1924	May 19, 1928	March 7, 1932	December 25, 1935	October 12, 1939
125	127	129	131	133
August 1, 1943	May 20, 1947	March 7, 1951	December 25, 1954	October 12, 1958
135	137	139	141	143
July 31, 1962	May 20, 1966	March 7, 1970	December 24, 1973	October 12, 1977
145	147	149	151	153
July 31, 1981	May 19, 1985	March 7, 1989	December 24, 1992	October 12, 1996
155
July 31, 2000

Notes

1. "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 141". Eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2012-03-15.

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements