A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, 1971, with a magnitude of 0.508. 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. A partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica.
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 20, 1971 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1971 August 20 at 20:52:59.2 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1971 August 20 at 22:39:31.5 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1971 August 20 at 22:54:02.4 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1971 August 20 at 23:50:24.9 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1971 August 21 at 00:25:39.4 UTC
+August 20, 1971 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.50797 Eclipse Obscuration 0.39282 Gamma −1.26591 Sun Right Ascension 09h57m48.0s Sun Declination +12°25'50.7" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'48.4" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 09h55m45.7s Moon Declination +11°23'25.4" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'56.3" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'49.4" ΔT 41.8 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. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one synodic month.
+ Eclipse season of July–August 1971 July 22Descending node (new moon) August 6Ascending node (full moon) August 20Descending node (new moon) Partial solar eclipseSolar Saros 116 Total lunar eclipseLunar Saros 128 Partial solar eclipseSolar Saros 154
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1971 A total lunar eclipse on February 10. A partial solar eclipse on February 25. A partial solar eclipse on July 22. A total lunar eclipse on August 6. A partial solar eclipse on August 20.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 2, 1967
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 9, 1964 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 2, 1978
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 15, 1962 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of August 26, 1980
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 20, 1960 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1982
Solar Saros 154 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 9, 1953 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 31, 1989
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 10, 1942 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 31, 2000
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 19, 1884 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 21, 2058
Solar eclipses of 1968–1971
Saros 154
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
References
External links