Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983

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Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureAnnular
Gamma0.4015
Magnitude0.9666
Maximum eclipse
Duration241 s (4 min 1 s)
Coordinates0°54′N 4°42′W / 0.9°N 4.7°W / 0.9; -4.7
Max. width of band131 km (81 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse12:31:15
References
Saros132 (44 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)9473

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on December 4, 1983. 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 in Cape Verde, Annobón Island of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the People's Republic of Congo (today's Republic of Congo), Zaire (today's Democratic Republic of Congo), northern Uganda, southern Sudan (today's South Sudan), northwestern Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The Sun's altitude was 66°. Occurring 6.5 days before apogee (Apogee on December 11, 1983), the Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter.

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses in 1983[edit]

Solar eclipses of 1982–1985[edit]

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.[1]

Note: Partial solar eclipses on January 25, 1982 and July 20, 1982 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1982 to 1985
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
117
1982 June 21
Partial
−1.21017 122
1982 December 15
Partial
1.12928
127
1983 June 11
Total
−0.49475 132
1983 December 4
Annular
0.40150
137
1984 May 30
Annular
0.27552 142

Partial from Gisborne, NZ

1984 November 22
Total
−0.31318
147
1985 May 19
Partial
1.07197 152
1985 November 12
Total
−0.97948

Saros 132[edit]

This eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 132, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 13, 1208. It contains annular eclipses from March 17, 1569 through March 12, 2146, hybrid on March 23, 2164 and April 3, 2183 and total eclipses from April 14, 2200 through June 19, 2308. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 25, 2470. The longest duration of annular was 6 minutes, 56 seconds on May 9, 1641, and totality will be 2 minutes, 14 seconds on June 8, 2290. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.

Series members 28–50 occur between 1690 and 2100:
28 29 30

June 11, 1695

June 22, 1713

July 4, 1731
31 32 33

July 14, 1749

July 25, 1767

August 5, 1785
34 35 36

August 17, 1803

August 27, 1821

September 7, 1839
37 38 39

September 18, 1857

September 29, 1875

October 9, 1893
40 41 42

October 22, 1911

November 1, 1929

November 12, 1947
43 44 45

November 23, 1965

December 4, 1983

December 14, 2001
46 47 48

December 26, 2019

January 5, 2038

January 16, 2056
49 50

January 27, 2074

February 7, 2092

Inex series[edit]

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.

Inex series members between 1901 and 2100:

January 14, 1926
(Saros 130)

December 25, 1954
(Saros 131)

December 4, 1983
(Saros 132)

November 13, 2012
(Saros 133)

October 25, 2041
(Saros 134)

October 4, 2070
(Saros 135)

September 14, 2099
(Saros 136)

Metonic series[edit]

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 descending node.

21 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between July 11, 1953 and July 11, 2029
July 10–12 April 29–30 February 15–16 December 4–5 September 21–23
116 118 120 122 124

July 11, 1953

April 30, 1957

February 15, 1961

December 4, 1964

September 22, 1968
126 128 130 132 134

July 10, 1972

April 29, 1976

February 16, 1980

December 4, 1983

September 23, 1987
136 138 140 142 144

July 11, 1991

April 29, 1995

February 16, 1999

December 4, 2002

September 22, 2006
146 148 150 152 154

July 11, 2010

April 29, 2014

February 15, 2018

December 4, 2021

September 21, 2025
156 158 160 162 164

July 11, 2029

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ 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.

References[edit]