A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Wednesday, April 17 and Thursday, April 18, 1996, with a magnitude of 0.8799. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the 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 in parts of Antarctica, New Zealand, and eastern Oceania.

Images

Eclipse timing

Places experiencing partial eclipse

Solar Eclipse of April 17, 1996(Local Times)
Country or territoryCity or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage
AustraliaMacquarie Island06:31:3907:21:4408:14:481:4320.58%
New ZealandQueenstown08:41:0109:22:2010:06:011:257.99%
New ZealandOban08:37:4809:22:4710:10:301:3310.99%
New ZealandGreymouth08:46:3909:24:0310:03:261:175.28%
New ZealandDunedin08:39:1609:24:3810:12:451:3310.62%
New ZealandChristchurch08:43:3609:26:0310:10:591:277.87%
New ZealandNelson08:49:2809:26:1310:04:531:154.69%
New ZealandNew Plymouth08:57:3609:26:5409:57:251:002.16%
New ZealandBlenheim08:48:3009:27:0710:07:491:195.44%
New ZealandAuckland09:11:1309:27:4509:44:400:330.35%
New ZealandWellington08:48:5509:28:0710:09:281:215.60%
New ZealandWhanganui08:53:1709:28:1710:05:011:123.78%
New ZealandHamilton09:03:0609:28:2909:54:470:521.32%
New ZealandTe Awamutu09:01:4509:28:3309:56:220:551.56%
New ZealandPalmerston North08:51:3309:29:0610:08:351:174.70%
New ZealandWhitianga09:09:0109:29:0609:49:460:410.62%
New ZealandTaupō08:57:4109:29:3710:02:591:052.70%
New ZealandTauranga09:02:3609:29:4509:57:570:551.59%
New ZealandRotorua09:00:0709:29:5210:00:521:012.13%
New ZealandNapier08:53:5909:30:5110:09:331:164.24%
New ZealandWhakatāne09:00:2109:30:5710:02:511:032.28%
New ZealandGisborne08:56:3309:32:2710:10:051:143.75%
New ZealandChatham Islands09:28:4210:25:2711:25:401:5717.03%
AntarcticaZucchelli Station09:42:47 (sunrise)09:53:4510:52:061:0959.07%
AntarcticaDumont d'Urville Station08:15:11 (sunrise)08:20:4708:26:220:112.24%
AntarcticaMcMurdo Station10:32:12 (sunrise)10:44:1610:56:450:258.62%
French PolynesiaPapeete12:52:4013:01:4513:10:460:180.03%
French PolynesiaGambier Islands13:19:5514:23:1315:21:252:0214.33%
Pitcairn IslandsAdamstown13:51:2114:58:3715:59:372:0819.84%
ChileEaster Island16:50:0417:49:3218:43:051:5324.30%
References:

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 attained the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

April 17, 1996 solar eclipse times
EventTime (UTC)
First penumbral external contact1996 April 17 at 20:32:24.8 UTC
Equatorial conjunction1996 April 17 at 22:06:05.6 UTC
Greatest eclipse1996 April 17 at 22:38:12.1 UTC
Ecliptic conjunction1996 April 17 at 22:49:47.9 UTC
Last penumbral external contact1996 April 18 at 00:44:20.0 UTC
April 17, 1996 solar eclipse parameters
ParameterValue
Eclipse magnitude0.87994
Eclipse obscuration0.84058
Gamma−1.05796
Sun right ascension01h44m43.7s
Sun declination+10°49'43.1"
Sun semi-diameter15'55.6"
Sun equatorial horizontal parallax08.8"
Moon right ascension01h45m48.3s
Moon declination+09°51'28.1"
Moon semi-diameter15'35.4"
Moon equatorial horizontal parallax0°57'13.0"
ΔT61.8 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.

Eclipse season of April 1996
April 4 Ascending node (full moon)April 17 Descending node (new moon)
Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 122Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 148

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1996

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 148

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1993–1996

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.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1993 to 1996
Descending nodeAscending node
SarosMapGammaSarosMapGamma
118May 21, 1993 Partial1.1372123November 13, 1993 Partial−1.0411
128 Partial in Bismarck, ND, USAMay 10, 1994 Annular0.4077133 Totality in BoliviaNovember 3, 1994 Total−0.3522
138April 29, 1995 Annular−0.3382143 Totality in Dundlod, IndiaOctober 24, 1995 Total0.3518
148April 17, 1996 Partial−1.058153October 12, 1996 Partial1.1227

Saros 148

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 148, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 75 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on September 21, 1653. It contains annular eclipses on April 29, 2014 and May 9, 2032; a hybrid eclipse on May 20, 2050; and total eclipses from May 31, 2068 through August 3, 2771. The series ends at member 75 as a partial eclipse on December 12, 2987. 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 22 at 22 seconds (by default) on May 9, 2032, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 54 at 5 minutes, 23 seconds on April 26, 2609. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.

Series members 10–31 occur between 1801 and 2200:
101112
December 30, 1815January 9, 1834January 21, 1852
131415
January 31, 1870February 11, 1888February 23, 1906
161718
March 5, 1924March 16, 1942March 27, 1960
192021
April 7, 1978April 17, 1996April 29, 2014
222324
May 9, 2032May 20, 2050May 31, 2068
252627
June 11, 2086June 22, 2104July 4, 2122
282930
July 14, 2140July 25, 2158August 4, 2176
31
August 16, 2194

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 descending node.

22 eclipse events between September 12, 1931 and July 1, 2011
September 11–12June 30–July 1April 17–19February 4–5November 22–23
114116118120122
September 12, 1931June 30, 1935April 19, 1939February 4, 1943November 23, 1946
124126128130132
September 12, 1950June 30, 1954April 19, 1958February 5, 1962November 23, 1965
134136138140142
September 11, 1969June 30, 1973April 18, 1977February 4, 1981November 22, 1984
144146148150152
September 11, 1988June 30, 1992April 17, 1996February 5, 2000November 23, 2003
154156
September 11, 2007July 1, 2011

Tritos series

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)

Inex series

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
August 16, 1822 (Saros 142)July 28, 1851 (Saros 143)July 7, 1880 (Saros 144)
June 17, 1909 (Saros 145)May 29, 1938 (Saros 146)May 9, 1967 (Saros 147)
April 17, 1996 (Saros 148)March 29, 2025 (Saros 149)March 9, 2054 (Saros 150)
February 16, 2083 (Saros 151)January 29, 2112 (Saros 152)January 8, 2141 (Saros 153)
December 18, 2169 (Saros 154)November 28, 2198 (Saros 155)

Notes

External links