Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987

Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Hybrid
Gamma	-0.3053
Magnitude	1.0013
Maximum eclipse
Duration	8 sec (0 m 8 s)
Coordinates	12°18′S 2°18′W / 12.3°S 2.3°W
Max. width of band	5 km (3.1 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	12:49:47
References
Saros	129 (50 of 80)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9480

A total solar eclipse occurred on March 29, 1987. It was a hybrid eclipse, with only a small portion of the central path as total, lasting a maximum of only 8 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.

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1986-1989

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.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1986-1989

Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Map		Saros	Map
119	April 9, 1986 Partial		124	October 3, 1986 Hybrid
129	March 29, 1987 Hybrid		134	September 23, 1987 Annular
139	March 18, 1988 Total		144	September 11, 1988 Annular
149	March 7, 1989 Partial		154	August 31, 1989 Partial

Saros 129

It is a part of Saros cycle 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 80 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on October 3, 1103. It contains annular eclipses on May 6, 1464 through March 18, 1969, hybrid eclipses on April 8, 2005 and 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. The longest duration of totality was 3 minutes, 43 seconds on June 25, 2131 .^[1]

Series members 46-56 occur between 1901 and 2100:
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
May 22, 2077	June 2, 2095

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, progressing from north to south between June 10, 1964 and August 21, 2036
June 10–11	March 27–29	January 15–16	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

Notes

1. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsaros/SEsaros129.html

References

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