A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, November 12, 1985, with a magnitude of 1.0388. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 2 hours after perigee (on November 12, 1985, at 12:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger. Perigee did occur during the early portion of the eclipse.

Totality was visible only near Antarctica. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of southern South America 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.

November 12, 1985 Solar Eclipse Times
EventTime (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact1985 November 12 at 12:09:38.7 UTC
First Umbral External Contact1985 November 12 at 13:47:16.4 UTC
First Central Line1985 November 12 at 13:51:51.3 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact1985 November 12 at 13:57:51.7 UTC
Greatest Duration1985 November 12 at 14:11:16.8 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1985 November 12 at 14:11:26.9 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1985 November 12 at 14:21:15.4 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1985 November 12 at 14:50:17.6 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact1985 November 12 at 14:24:37.2 UTC
Last Central Line1985 November 12 at 14:30:37.7 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact1985 November 12 at 14:35:12.6 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1985 November 12 at 16:12:59.3 UTC
November 12, 1985 Solar Eclipse Parameters
ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude1.03880
Eclipse Obscuration1.07910
Gamma−0.97948
Sun Right Ascension15h10m46.7s
Sun Declination-17°46'51.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter16'09.6"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.9"
Moon Right Ascension15h09m15.4s
Moon Declination-18°42'51.3"
Moon Semi-Diameter16'44.5"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax1°01'26.6"
ΔT54.8 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 October–November 1985
October 28 Ascending node (full moon)November 12 Descending node (new moon)
Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 126Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 152

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1985

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 152

Inex

Triad

Solar eclipses of 1982–1985

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.

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 nodeDescending node
SarosMapGammaSarosMapGamma
117June 21, 1982 Partial−1.2102122December 15, 1982 Partial1.1293
127June 11, 1983 Total−0.4947132December 4, 1983 Annular0.4015
137May 30, 1984 Annular0.2755142 Partial in Gisborne, New ZealandNovember 22, 1984 Total−0.3132
147May 19, 1985 Partial1.072152November 12, 1985 Total−0.9795

Saros 152

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 152, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 26, 1805. It contains total eclipses from November 2, 1967 through September 14, 2490; hybrid eclipses from September 26, 2508 through October 17, 2544; and annular eclipses from October 29, 2562 through June 16, 2941. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on August 20, 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 totality will be produced by member 30 at 5 minutes, 16 seconds on June 9, 2328, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 53 at 5 minutes, 20 seconds on February 16, 2743. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.

Series members 1–22 occur between 1805 and 2200:
123
July 26, 1805August 6, 1823August 16, 1841
456
August 28, 1859September 7, 1877September 18, 1895
789
September 30, 1913October 11, 1931October 21, 1949
101112
November 2, 1967November 12, 1985November 23, 2003
131415
December 4, 2021December 15, 2039December 26, 2057
161718
January 6, 2076January 16, 2094January 29, 2112
192021
February 8, 2130February 19, 2148March 2, 2166
22
March 12, 2184

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 April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989
April 7–8January 24–25November 12August 31–September 1June 19–20
108110112114116
April 8, 1902August 31, 1913June 19, 1917
118120122124126
April 8, 1921January 24, 1925November 12, 1928August 31, 1932June 19, 1936
128130132134136
April 7, 1940January 25, 1944November 12, 1947September 1, 1951June 20, 1955
138140142144146
April 8, 1959January 25, 1963November 12, 1966August 31, 1970June 20, 1974
148150152154
April 7, 1978January 25, 1982November 12, 1985August 31, 1989

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 eclipse on November 4, 2116 (part of Saros 164) is also a part of this series but is not included in the table below.

Series members between 1801 and 2029
March 24, 1811 (Saros 136)February 21, 1822 (Saros 137)January 20, 1833 (Saros 138)December 21, 1843 (Saros 139)November 20, 1854 (Saros 140)
October 19, 1865 (Saros 141)September 17, 1876 (Saros 142)August 19, 1887 (Saros 143)July 18, 1898 (Saros 144)June 17, 1909 (Saros 145)
May 18, 1920 (Saros 146)April 18, 1931 (Saros 147)March 16, 1942 (Saros 148)February 14, 1953 (Saros 149)January 14, 1964 (Saros 150)
December 13, 1974 (Saros 151)November 12, 1985 (Saros 152)October 12, 1996 (Saros 153)September 11, 2007 (Saros 154)August 11, 2018 (Saros 155)
July 11, 2029 (Saros 156)

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
March 13, 1812 (Saros 146)February 21, 1841 (Saros 147)January 31, 1870 (Saros 148)
January 11, 1899 (Saros 149)December 24, 1927 (Saros 150)December 2, 1956 (Saros 151)
November 12, 1985 (Saros 152)October 23, 2014 (Saros 153)October 3, 2043 (Saros 154)
September 12, 2072 (Saros 155)August 24, 2101 (Saros 156)August 4, 2130 (Saros 157)
July 15, 2159 (Saros 158)June 24, 2188 (Saros 159)

Notes