Solar eclipse of April 7, 1978

Last updated
Solar eclipse of April 7, 1978
SE1978Apr07P.png
Map
Type of eclipse
NaturePartial
Gamma −1.1081
Magnitude 0.7883
Maximum eclipse
Coordinates 71°54′S23°18′E / 71.9°S 23.3°E / -71.9; 23.3
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse15:03:47
References
Saros 148 (19 of 75)
Catalog # (SE5000) 9460

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, April 7, 1978, [1] with a magnitude of 0.7883. 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.

Contents

A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Antarctica, southern South America, and Southern Africa.

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. [2]

April 7, 1978 Solar Eclipse Times
EventTime (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact1978 April 07 at 13:02:42.8 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction1978 April 07 at 14:26:21.8 UTC
Greatest Eclipse1978 April 07 at 15:03:46.6 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction1978 April 07 at 15:15:57.9 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact1978 April 07 at 17:05:13.3 UTC
April 7, 1978 Solar Eclipse Parameters
ParameterValue
Eclipse Magnitude0.78828
Eclipse Obscuration0.72528
Gamma−1.10812
Sun Right Ascension01h04m17.8s
Sun Declination+06°50'43.3"
Sun Semi-Diameter15'58.5"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax08.8"
Moon Right Ascension01h05m31.3s
Moon Declination+05°50'22.8"
Moon Semi-Diameter15'32.4"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax0°57'02.1"
ΔT48.8 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 March–April 1978
March 24
Ascending node (full moon)
April 7
Descending node (new moon)
Lunar eclipse chart close-1978Mar24.png SE1978Apr07P.png
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 122
Partial solar eclipse
Solar Saros 148

Eclipses in 1978

Metonic

Tzolkinex

Half-Saros

Tritos

Solar Saros 148

Inex

Triad

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. [3]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1975 to 1978
Descending node Ascending node
SarosMapGammaSarosMapGamma
118 May 11, 1975
SE1975May11P.png
Partial
1.0647123 November 3, 1975
SE1975Nov03P.png
Partial
−1.0248
128 April 29, 1976
SE1976Apr29A.png
Annular
0.3378133 October 23, 1976
SE1976Oct23T.png
Total
−0.327
138 April 18, 1977
SE1977Apr18A.png
Annular
−0.399143 October 12, 1977
SE1977Oct12T.png
Total
0.3836
148 April 7, 1978
SE1978Apr07P.png
Partial
−1.1081153 October 2, 1978
SE1978Oct02P.png
Partial
1.1616

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. [4]

Series members 10–31 occur between 1801 and 2200:
101112
SE1815Dec30P.gif
December 30, 1815
SE1834Jan09P.gif
January 9, 1834
SE1852Jan21P.gif
January 21, 1852
131415
SE1870Jan31P.gif
January 31, 1870
SE1888Feb11P.gif
February 11, 1888
SE1906Feb23P.png
February 23, 1906
161718
SE1924Mar05P.png
March 5, 1924
SE1942Mar16P.png
March 16, 1942
SE1960Mar27P.png
March 27, 1960
192021
SE1978Apr07P.png
April 7, 1978
SE1996Apr17P.png
April 17, 1996
SE2014Apr29A.png
April 29, 2014
222324
SE2032May09A.png
May 9, 2032
SE2050May20H.png
May 20, 2050
SE2068May31T.png
May 31, 2068
252627
SE2086Jun11T.png
June 11, 2086
Saros148 26van75 SE2104Jun22T.jpg
June 22, 2104
Saros148 27van75 SE2122Jul04T.jpg
July 4, 2122
282930
Saros148 28van75 SE2140Jul14T.jpg
July 14, 2140
SE2158Jul25T.png
July 25, 2158
Saros148 30van75 SE2176Aug04T.jpg
August 4, 2176
31
Saros148 31van75 SE2194Aug16T.jpg
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 April 8, 1902 and August 31, 1989
April 7–8January 24–25November 12August 31–September 1June 19–20
108110112114116
SE1902Apr08P.png
April 8, 1902
SE1913Aug31P.png
August 31, 1913
SE1917Jun19P.png
June 19, 1917
118120122124126
SE1921Apr08A.png
April 8, 1921
SE1925Jan24T.png
January 24, 1925
SE1928Nov12P.png
November 12, 1928
SE1932Aug31T.png
August 31, 1932
SE1936Jun19T.png
June 19, 1936
128130132134136
SE1940Apr07A.png
April 7, 1940
SE1944Jan25T.png
January 25, 1944
SE1947Nov12A.png
November 12, 1947
SE1951Sep01A.png
September 1, 1951
SE1955Jun20T.png
June 20, 1955
138140142144146
SE1959Apr08A.png
April 8, 1959
SE1963Jan25A.png
January 25, 1963
SE1966Nov12T.png
November 12, 1966
SE1970Aug31A.png
August 31, 1970
SE1974Jun20T.png
June 20, 1974
148150152154
SE1978Apr07P.png
April 7, 1978
SE1982Jan25P.png
January 25, 1982
SE1985Nov12T.png
November 12, 1985
SE1989Aug31P.png
August 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.

Series members between 1801 and 2087
SE1803Aug17A.png
August 17, 1803
(Saros 132)
SE1814Jul17T.png
July 17, 1814
(Saros 133)
SE1825Jun16H.png
June 16, 1825
(Saros 134)
SE1836May15A.png
May 15, 1836
(Saros 135)
SE1847Apr15T.png
April 15, 1847
(Saros 136)
SE1858Mar15A.png
March 15, 1858
(Saros 137)
SE1869Feb11A.png
February 11, 1869
(Saros 138)
SE1880Jan11T.png
January 11, 1880
(Saros 139)
SE1890Dec12H.png
December 12, 1890
(Saros 140)
SE1901Nov11A.png
November 11, 1901
(Saros 141)
SE1912Oct10T.png
October 10, 1912
(Saros 142)
SE1923Sep10T.png
September 10, 1923
(Saros 143)
SE1934Aug10A.png
August 10, 1934
(Saros 144)
SE1945Jul09T.png
July 9, 1945
(Saros 145)
SE1956Jun08T.png
June 8, 1956
(Saros 146)
SE1967May09P.png
May 9, 1967
(Saros 147)
SE1978Apr07P.png
April 7, 1978
(Saros 148)
SE1989Mar07P.png
March 7, 1989
(Saros 149)
SE2000Feb05P.png
February 5, 2000
(Saros 150)
SE2011Jan04P.png
January 4, 2011
(Saros 151)
SE2021Dec04T.png
December 4, 2021
(Saros 152)
SE2032Nov03P.png
November 3, 2032
(Saros 153)
SE2043Oct03A.png
October 3, 2043
(Saros 154)
SE2054Sep02P.png
September 2, 2054
(Saros 155)
SE2065Aug02P.png
August 2, 2065
(Saros 156)
SE2076Jul01P.png
July 1, 2076
(Saros 157)
SE2087Jun01P.png
June 1, 2087
(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
SE1804Aug05T.gif
August 5, 1804
(Saros 142)
SE1833Jul17T.gif
July 17, 1833
(Saros 143)
SE1862Jun27P.gif
June 27, 1862
(Saros 144)
SE1891Jun06A.gif
June 6, 1891
(Saros 145)
SE1920May18P.png
May 18, 1920
(Saros 146)
SE1949Apr28P.png
April 28, 1949
(Saros 147)
SE1978Apr07P.png
April 7, 1978
(Saros 148)
SE2007Mar19P.png
March 19, 2007
(Saros 149)
SE2036Feb27P.png
February 27, 2036
(Saros 150)
SE2065Feb05P.png
February 5, 2065
(Saros 151)
SE2094Jan16T.png
January 16, 2094
(Saros 152)
Saros153 15van70 SE2122Dec28A.jpg
December 28, 2122
(Saros 153)
Saros154 14van71 SE2151Dec08A.jpg
December 8, 2151
(Saros 154)
Saros155 15van71 SE2180Nov17T.jpg
November 17, 2180
(Saros 155)

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References

  1. "April 7, 1978 Partial Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  2. "Partial Solar Eclipse of 1978 Apr 07". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  3. van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  4. "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 148". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.