Solar eclipse of October 2, 1978
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A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Monday, October 2, 1978, with a magnitude of 0.6905. 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 North Asia and East Asia.
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.
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1978 October 2 at 04:31:44.0 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1978 October 2 at 05:46:52.4 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1978 October 2 at 06:28:43.3 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1978 October 2 at 06:41:27.8 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1978 October 2 at 08:25:57.0 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.69055 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.60402 |
| Gamma | 1.16164 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 12h32m00.9s |
| Sun Declination | -03°27'16.5" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'58.8" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 12h33m20.1s |
| Moon Declination | -02°25'05.3" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'20.8" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°56'19.5" |
| ΔT | 49.3 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.
| September 16 Descending node (full moon) | October 2 Ascending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
| Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 127 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 153 |
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 1978
- A total lunar eclipse on March 24.
- A partial solar eclipse on April 7.
- A total lunar eclipse on September 16.
- A partial solar eclipse on October 2.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 13, 1974
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1982
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1985
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of September 25, 1969
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of October 7, 1987
Tritos
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 2, 1967
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 31, 1989
Solar Saros 153
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 20, 1960
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 12, 1996
Inex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 21, 1949
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 11, 2007
Triad
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 1, 1891
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 2, 2065
Solar eclipses of 1975–1978
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 1975 to 1978 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | ||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 118 | May 11, 1975 Partial | 1.0647 | 123 | November 3, 1975 Partial | −1.0248 |
| 128 | April 29, 1976 Annular | 0.3378 | 133 | October 23, 1976 Total | −0.327 |
| 138 | April 18, 1977 Annular | −0.399 | 143 | October 12, 1977 Total | 0.3836 |
| 148 | April 7, 1978 Partial | −1.1081 | 153 | October 2, 1978 Partial | 1.1616 |
Saros 153
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 153, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 28, 1870. It contains annular eclipses from December 17, 2104 through May 26, 2970. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on August 22, 3114. 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 7 minutes, 1 seconds on September 5, 2537. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
| Series members 1–19 occur between 1870 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 |
| July 28, 1870 | August 7, 1888 | August 20, 1906 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 |
| August 30, 1924 | September 10, 1942 | September 20, 1960 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 |
| October 2, 1978 | October 12, 1996 | October 23, 2014 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 |
| November 3, 2032 | November 14, 2050 | November 24, 2068 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 |
| December 6, 2086 | December 17, 2104 | December 28, 2122 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 |
| January 8, 2141 | January 19, 2159 | January 29, 2177 |
| 19 | ||
| February 10, 2195 |
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.
| 22 eclipse events between December 13, 1898 and July 20, 1982 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 13–14 | October 1–2 | July 20–21 | May 9 | February 24–25 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
| December 13, 1898 | July 21, 1906 | May 9, 1910 | February 25, 1914 | |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
| December 14, 1917 | October 1, 1921 | July 20, 1925 | May 9, 1929 | February 24, 1933 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
| December 13, 1936 | October 1, 1940 | July 20, 1944 | May 9, 1948 | February 25, 1952 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
| December 14, 1955 | October 2, 1959 | July 20, 1963 | May 9, 1967 | February 25, 1971 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 | ||
| December 13, 1974 | October 2, 1978 | July 20, 1982 |
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 October 24, 2098 (part of Saros 164) is also a part of this series but is not included in the table below.
| Series members between 1801 and 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 11, 1804 (Saros 137) | January 10, 1815 (Saros 138) | December 9, 1825 (Saros 139) | November 9, 1836 (Saros 140) | October 9, 1847 (Saros 141) |
| September 7, 1858 (Saros 142) | August 7, 1869 (Saros 143) | July 7, 1880 (Saros 144) | June 6, 1891 (Saros 145) | May 7, 1902 (Saros 146) |
| April 6, 1913 (Saros 147) | March 5, 1924 (Saros 148) | February 3, 1935 (Saros 149) | January 3, 1946 (Saros 150) | December 2, 1956 (Saros 151) |
| November 2, 1967 (Saros 152) | October 2, 1978 (Saros 153) | August 31, 1989 (Saros 154) | July 31, 2000 (Saros 155) | July 1, 2011 (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 | ||
|---|---|---|
| January 30, 1805 (Saros 147) | January 9, 1834 (Saros 148) | December 21, 1862 (Saros 149) |
| December 1, 1891 (Saros 150) | November 10, 1920 (Saros 151) | October 21, 1949 (Saros 152) |
| October 2, 1978 (Saros 153) | September 11, 2007 (Saros 154) | August 21, 2036 (Saros 155) |
| August 2, 2065 (Saros 156) | July 12, 2094 (Saros 157) | June 23, 2123 (Saros 158) |
| June 3, 2152 (Saros 159) | May 13, 2181 (Saros 160) |
External links
- Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC