Solar eclipse of January 15, 1991

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Tuesday, January 15 and Wednesday, January 16, 1991,[excessive citations] with a magnitude of 0.929. 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 3.5 days after apogee (on January 12, 1991, at 11:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Annularity was visible in southwestern Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and French Polynesia. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Indonesia, Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica.

Images

Eclipse timing

Places experiencing annular eclipse

Places experiencing partial eclipse

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.

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.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1991

• An annular solar eclipse on January 15.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 30.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 27.
• A total solar eclipse on July 11.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 26.
• A partial lunar eclipse on December 21.

Metonic

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 1994

Tzolkinex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998

Half-Saros

• Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 1982
• Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 21, 2000

Tritos

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 2001

Solar Saros 131

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009

Inex

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 1962
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019

Triad

• Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 17, 1904
• Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 15, 2077

Solar eclipses of 1990–1992

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.

Saros 131

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 131, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 1, 1125. It contains total eclipses from March 27, 1522 through May 30, 1612; hybrid eclipses from June 10, 1630 through July 24, 1702; and annular eclipses from August 4, 1720 through June 18, 2243. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on September 2, 2369. 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 totality was produced by member 28 at 58 seconds on May 30, 1612, and the longest duration of annularity was produced by member 50 at 7 minutes, 54 seconds on January 26, 2009. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.

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 ascending node.

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.

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.

Notes

External links

• Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC