Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981
20th-century annular solar eclipse / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on February 4–5, 1981. 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. This annular solar eclipse was large because the Moon covered 99.4% of the Sun, with a path width of only 25 km (15.534 mi, or 82,080.997 feet). It was visible in Australia, crossing over Tasmania and southern Stewart Island of New Zealand near sunrise on February 5 (Thursday), and ended at sunset over western South America on February 4 (Wednesday). Occurring only 4 days before perigee (Perigee on February 8, 1981), the moon's apparent diameter was larger.
Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981 | |
---|---|
Type of eclipse | |
Nature | Annular |
Gamma | −0.4838 |
Magnitude | 0.9937 |
Maximum eclipse | |
Duration | 33 s (0 min 33 s) |
Coordinates | 44.4°S 140.8°W / -44.4; -140.8 |
Max. width of band | 25 km (16 mi) |
Times (UTC) | |
Greatest eclipse | 22:09:24 |
References | |
Saros | 140 (27 of 71) |
Catalog # (SE5000) | 9466 |
The moon's apparent diameter was 7 arcseconds smaller than the July 31, 1981 total solar eclipse.