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20th-century partial solar eclipse From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Sunday, May 19 and Monday, May 20, 1985,[1] with a magnitude of 0.8406. 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 near sunrise on May 20 over Japan and northeast Russia and ended on May 19 over Alaska and near sunset over northern Canada and Greenland.
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.[2]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1985 May 19 at 19:15:42.2 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1985 May 19 at 21:29:37.8 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1985 May 19 at 21:42:01.7 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1985 May 19 at 22:11:12.4 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1985 May 19 at 23:43:13.0 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.84064 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.77714 |
| Gamma | 1.07197 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 03h46m23.8s |
| Sun Declination | +19°54'02.6" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'48.3" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.7" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 03h45m05.8s |
| Moon Declination | +20°49'15.8" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 14'49.5" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°54'24.6" |
| ΔT | 54.5 s |
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.
| May 4 Descending node (full moon) | May 19 Ascending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
 | |
| Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 121 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 147 |
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.[3]
The 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 | June 21, 1982 Partial |
−1.2102 | 122 | December 15, 1982 Partial |
1.1293 | |
| 127 | June 11, 1983 Total |
−0.4947 | 132 | December 4, 1983 Annular |
0.4015 | |
| 137 | May 30, 1984 Annular |
0.2755 | 142 Partial in Gisborne, New Zealand |
November 22, 1984 Total |
−0.3132 | |
| 147 | May 19, 1985 Partial |
1.072 | 152 | November 12, 1985 Total |
−0.9795 | |
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 147, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 12, 1624. It contains annular eclipses from May 31, 2003 through July 31, 2706. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 24, 3049. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 38 at 9 minutes, 41 seconds on November 21, 2291. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[4]
| Series members 11–32 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 11 | 12 | 13 |
 January 30, 1805 |
 February 11, 1823 |
 February 21, 1841 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 |
 March 4, 1859 |
 March 15, 1877 |
 March 26, 1895 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 |
 April 6, 1913 |
 April 18, 1931 |
 April 28, 1949 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 |
 May 9, 1967 |
May 19, 1985 |
 May 31, 2003 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 |
 June 10, 2021 |
 June 21, 2039 |
 July 1, 2057 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 |
 July 13, 2075 |
 July 23, 2093 |
 August 4, 2111 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 |
 August 15, 2129 |
 August 26, 2147 |
 September 5, 2165 |
| 32 | ||
 September 16, 2183 | ||
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 | July 31–August 1 | May 19–20 | March 7 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
 December 24, 1916 |
 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 | ||
 December 24, 1992 |
 October 12, 1996 |
 July 31, 2000 | ||
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
The partial solar eclipses on December 7, 2170 (part of Saros 164) and November 7, 2181 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.
| Series members between 1801 and 2105 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 September 28, 1810 (Saros 131) |
 August 27, 1821 (Saros 132) |
 July 27, 1832 (Saros 133) |
 June 27, 1843 (Saros 134) |
 May 26, 1854 (Saros 135) |
 April 25, 1865 (Saros 136) |
 March 25, 1876 (Saros 137) |
 February 22, 1887 (Saros 138) |
 January 22, 1898 (Saros 139) |
 December 23, 1908 (Saros 140) |
 November 22, 1919 (Saros 141) |
 October 21, 1930 (Saros 142) |
 September 21, 1941 (Saros 143) |
 August 20, 1952 (Saros 144) |
 July 20, 1963 (Saros 145) |
 June 20, 1974 (Saros 146) |
May 19, 1985 (Saros 147) |
 April 17, 1996 (Saros 148) |
 March 19, 2007 (Saros 149) |
 February 15, 2018 (Saros 150) |
 January 14, 2029 (Saros 151) |
 December 15, 2039 (Saros 152) |
 November 14, 2050 (Saros 153) |
 October 13, 2061 (Saros 154) |
 September 12, 2072 (Saros 155) |
 August 13, 2083 (Saros 156) |
 July 12, 2094 (Saros 157) |
 June 12, 2105 (Saros 158) | ||
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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | ||
|---|---|---|
 September 17, 1811 (Saros 141) |
 August 27, 1840 (Saros 142) |
 August 7, 1869 (Saros 143) |
 July 18, 1898 (Saros 144) |
 June 29, 1927 (Saros 145) |
 June 8, 1956 (Saros 146) |
May 19, 1985 (Saros 147) |
 April 29, 2014 (Saros 148) |
 April 9, 2043 (Saros 149) |
 March 19, 2072 (Saros 150) |
 February 28, 2101 (Saros 151) |
 February 8, 2130 (Saros 152) |
 January 19, 2159 (Saros 153) |
 December 29, 2187 (Saros 154) |
|
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