Solar eclipse of January 16, 1972

Solar eclipse of January 16, 1972
Solar eclipse of January 16, 1972
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	−0.9365
Magnitude	0.9692
Maximum eclipse
Duration	113 s (1 min 53 s)
Coordinates	74°54′S 107°42′E / 74.9°S 107.7°E
Max. width of band	321 km (199 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	11:03:22
References
Saros	121 (58 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9447

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Sunday, January 16, 1972, with a magnitude of 0.9692. 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.

The areas included were the whole of Antarctica, a part of the southernmost portion of South America much of it in Argentina and a smaller part of Chile, much of it in the region of Patagonia, also it included New Amsterdam and the southern islands of the Indian Ocean,. The annular eclipse took place in western, southern and eastern Antarctica with its greatest eclipse in the eastcentral portion of the continent near the 75th parallel. The eclipse's edges were in Réunion and Mauritius, the eclipse was close to the island of Madagascar. The subsolar portion was in northcentral South West Africa (now Namibia).

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses in 1972[edit]

Solar eclipses of 1971–1974[edit]

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.^[1]

Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the next lunar year set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1971 to 1974
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
116	1971 July 22 Partial	1.51298	121	1972 January 16 Annular	−0.93651
126	1972 July 10 Total	0.68719	131	1973 January 4 Annular	−0.26441
136	1973 June 30 Total	−0.07853	141	1973 December 24 Annular	0.41710
146	1974 June 20 Total	−0.82388	151	1974 December 13 Partial	1.07974

Saros 121[edit]

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 121, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on April 25, 944 AD. It contains total eclipses from July 10, 1070 through October 9, 1809; hybrid eclipses on October 20, 1827 and October 30, 1845; and annular eclipses from November 11, 1863 through February 28, 2044. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 7, 2206. 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 39 at 6 minutes, 20 seconds on June 21, 1629, and the longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 62 at 2 minutes, 27 seconds on February 28, 2044. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.^[2]

Series members 49–70 occur between 1801 and 2200:
49	50	51
October 9, 1809	October 20, 1827	October 30, 1845
52	53	54
November 11, 1863	November 21, 1881	December 3, 1899
55	56	57
December 14, 1917	December 25, 1935	January 5, 1954
58	59	60
January 16, 1972	January 26, 1990	February 7, 2008
61	62	63
February 17, 2026	February 28, 2044	March 11, 2062
64	65	66
March 21, 2080	April 1, 2098	April 13, 2116
67	68	69
April 24, 2134	May 4, 2152	May 16, 2170
70
May 26, 2188

Metonic series[edit]

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.

21 eclipse events, progressing from south to north between June 10, 1964, and August 21, 2036
June 10–11	March 27–29	January 15–16	November 3	August 21–22
117	119	121	123	125
June 10, 1964	March 28, 1968	January 16, 1972	November 3, 1975	August 22, 1979
127	129	131	133	135
June 11, 1983	March 29, 1987	January 15, 1991	November 3, 1994	August 22, 1998
137	139	141	143	145
June 10, 2002	March 29, 2006	January 15, 2010	November 3, 2013	August 21, 2017
147	149	151	153	155
June 10, 2021	March 29, 2025	January 14, 2029	November 3, 2032	August 21, 2036