An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, August 22, 1979, with a magnitude of 0.9329. 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. Occurring about 15 hours before apogee (on August 23, 1979, at 8:10 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible for a part of Antarctica. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern South America and Antarctica. This was the last of 40 umbral eclipses in Solar Saros 125.
Eclipse details 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.
+August 22, 1979 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1979 August 22 at 14:55:55.6 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1979 August 22 at 16:43:17.2 UTC First Central Line 1979 August 22 at 16:51:47.8 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1979 August 22 at 17:03:32.7 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1979 August 22 at 17:11:15.7 UTC Greatest Duration 1979 August 22 at 17:22:05.7 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1979 August 22 at 17:22:38.0 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1979 August 22 at 17:52:40.4 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1979 August 22 at 17:41:20.6 UTC Last Central Line 1979 August 22 at 17:53:06.4 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1979 August 22 at 18:01:37.8 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1979 August 22 at 19:49:07.3 UTC
+August 22, 1979 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.93295 Eclipse Obscuration 0.87039 Gamma −0.96319 Sun Right Ascension 10h04m36.4s Sun Declination +11°48'55.0" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'48.8" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 10h03m42.7s Moon Declination +10°58'46.8" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'42.1" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°53'57.5" ΔT 50.2 s
Eclipse season
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 August–September 1979 August 22Ascending node (new moon) September 6Descending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 125 Total lunar eclipseLunar Saros 137
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1979 A total solar eclipse on February 26. A partial lunar eclipse on March 13. An annular solar eclipse on August 22. A total lunar eclipse on September 6.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 1975 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 11, 1983
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 17, 1970 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 27, 1988
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 22, 1968 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 22, 1990
Solar Saros 125 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 11, 1961 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 2, 1997
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 12, 1950 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 1, 2008
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 20, 1892 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 22, 2066
Solar eclipses of 1979–1982
Saros 125
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References