Solar eclipse of August 11, 1961

Solar eclipse of August 11, 1961
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	-0.8859
Magnitude	0.9375
Maximum eclipse
Duration	395 sec (6 m 35 s)
Coordinates	45°48′S4°00′E / 45.8°S 4°E / -45.8; 4
Max. width of band	499 km (310 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	10:46:47
References
Saros	125 (51 of 73)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9423

An annular solar eclipse occurred on August 11, 1961. 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. A small annular eclipse covered only 94% of the Sun in a very broad path, 499 km wide at maximum, and lasted 6 minutes and 35 seconds.

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1961–1964

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]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1961–1964
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Map		Saros	Map
120	1961 February 15 Total		125	1961 August 11 Annular
130	1962 February 5 Total		135	1962 July 31 Annular
140	1963 January 25 Annular		145	1963 July 20 Total
150	1964 January 14 Partial		155	1964 July 9 Partial
Partial solar eclipses of June 10, 1964 and December 4, 1964 belong in the next lunar year set.

Saros 125

Solar saros 125, repeating every about 18 years and 11 days, contains 73 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on February 4, 1060. It has total eclipses from June 13, 1276, to July 16, 1330. It has hybrid eclipses on July 26, 1348, and August 7, 1366, and annular eclipses from August 17, 1384, to August 22, 1979. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on April 9, 2358. The longest total eclipse occurred on June 25, 1294, at 1 minute and 11 seconds; the longest annular eclipse occurred on July 10, 1907, at 7 minutes and 23 seconds. ^[2]

Series members 47–58 occur between 1881 and 2100:
47	48	49
June 28, 1889	July 10, 1907	July 20, 1925
50	51	52
August 1, 1943	August 11, 1961	August 22, 1979
53	54	55
September 2, 1997	September 13, 2015	September 23, 2033
56	57	58
October 4, 2051	October 15, 2069	October 26, 2087

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.

In the 19th century:

• Solar Saros 120: Total Solar Eclipse of 1816 Nov 19

• Solar Saros 121: Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1845 Oct 30

• Solar Saros 122: Annular Solar Eclipse of 1874 Oct 10

Inex series members between 1901 and 2100:
September 21, 1903 (Saros 123)	August 31, 1932 (Saros 124)	August 11, 1961 (Saros 125)
July 22, 1990 (Saros 126)	July 2, 2019 (Saros 127)	June 11, 2048 (Saros 128)
May 22, 2077 (Saros 129)

In the 22nd century:

• Solar Saros 130: Total Solar Eclipse of 2106 May 03

• Solar Saros 131: Annular Solar Eclipse of 2135 Apr 13

• Solar Saros 132: Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 2164 Mar 23

• Solar Saros 133: Total Solar Eclipse of 2193 Mar 03

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 January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018
January 4-5	October 23-24	August 10-12	May 30-31	March 18-19
111	113	115	117	119
January 5, 1935		August 12, 1942	May 30, 1946	March 18, 1950
121	123	125	127	129
January 5, 1954	October 23, 1957	August 11, 1961	May 30, 1965	March 18, 1969
131	133	135	137	139
January 4, 1973	October 23, 1976	August 10, 1980	May 30, 1984	March 18, 1988
141	143	145	147	149
January 4, 1992	October 24, 1995	August 11, 1999	May 31, 2003	March 19, 2007
151	153	155	157	159
January 4, 2011	October 23, 2014	August 11, 2018

Notes

1. 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.
2. Saros Series Catalog of Solar Eclipses NASA Eclipse Web Site.

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements