Solar eclipse of December 24, 1973

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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 / 1.1; -48.5
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. Annularity was visible from southern Mexico, southwestern Nicaragua, Costa Rica including the capital city San José, Panama, Colombia including the capital city Bogotá, southern Venezuela, Brazil, southern Guyana, southern Dutch Guiana (today's Suriname), southern French Guiana, Portuguese Cape Verde (today's Cape Verde) including the capital city Praia, Mauritania including the capital city Nouakchott, Spanish Sahara (today's Western Sahara), Mali, and Algeria.

The duration of annularity at maximum eclipse (closest to but slightly shorter than the longest duration) was 12 minutes, 2.37 seconds in the Atlantic Ocean near the Brazilian coast. It was the longest annular solar eclipse until January 14, 3080, but the Solar eclipse of December 14, 1955 lasted longer.^[1]

Related eclipses[]

Eclipses in 1973[]

• An annular solar eclipse on Thursday, 4 January 1973.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on Thursday, 18 January 1973.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on Friday, 15 June 1973.
• A total solar eclipse on Saturday, 30 June 1973.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on Sunday, 15 July 1973.
• A partial lunar eclipse on Monday, 10 December 1973.
• An annular solar eclipse on Monday, 24 December 1973.

Solar eclipses of 1971–1974[]

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.^[2]

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	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
116	1971 July 22 Partial	1.51298		121	1972 January 16 Annular	-0.93651
126	1972 July 10 Total	0.68719		131	1973 January 4 Annular	-0.26441
136	1973 June 30 Total	-0.07853		141	1973 December 24 Annular	0.41710
146	1974 June 20 Total	-0.82388		151	1974 December 13 Partial	1.07974

Saros 141[]

Solar saros 141, repeating every about 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours, contains 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 19, 1613. It contains 41 annular eclipses from August 4, 1739, to 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. The longest annular eclipse occurred on December 14, 1955, with maximum duration of annularity at 12 minutes and 9 seconds. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node.^[3]

Series members 17–36 occur between 1901 and 2259
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
29	30	31
March 22, 2118	April 1, 2136	April 12, 2154
32	33	34
April 23, 2172	May 4, 2190	May 15, 2208
35	36
May 27, 2226	June 6, 2244

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). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's ascending node.

22 eclipse events between December 24, 1916 and July 31, 2000
December 24–25	October 12–13	July 31-Aug 1	May 18–20	March 7–8
91	93	95	97	99
December 23, 1878	October 12, 1882	July 31, 1886	May 18, 1890	March 7, 1894
101	103	105	107	109
December 23, 1897	October 12, 1901	August 1, 1905	May 19, 1909	March 8, 1913
111	113	115	117	119
December 24, 1916	October 12, 1920	July 31, 1924	May 19, 1928	March 7, 1932
121	123	125	127	129
December 25, 1935	October 12, 1939	August 1, 1943	May 20, 1947	March 7, 1951
131	133	135	137	139
December 25, 1954	October 12, 1958	July 31, 1962	May 20, 1966	March 7, 1970
141	143	145	147	149
December 24, 1973	October 12, 1977	July 31, 1981	May 19, 1985	March 7, 1989
151	153	155	157	159
December 24, 1992	October 12, 1996	July 31, 2000	May 19, 2004	March 7, 2008
161	163	165	167	169
December 24, 2011	October 13, 2015	August 1, 2019	May 19, 2023	March 8, 2027

Notes[]

References[]

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

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