Table 1. Elements of the Total Solar Eclipse of 1997 March 9

Geocentric Conjunction      01:54:39.85 TDT     J.D. = 2450516.579628
 of Sun & Moon in R.A.:   (=01:53:37.75 UT)

      Instant of            01:24:50.59 TDT     J.D. = 2450516.558919
   Greatest Eclipse:      (=01:23:48.49 UT)


Geocentric Coordinates of Sun & Moon at Greatest Eclipse (DE200/LE200):

Sun:       R.A. = 23h17m46.122s       Moon:      R.A. = 23h16m38.690s
           Dec. =-04°32´29.18"                   Dec. =-03°38´59.34"

  Semi-Diameter =    16´06.48"          Semi-Diameter =    16´40.83"

    Eq.Hor.Par. =         8.86"            Eq.Hor.Par. =  1°01´12.85"
          R.A. =        9.234s/h              R.A. =      144.973s/h
          Dec. =       58.65"/h               Dec. =      695.56"/h


Lunar Radius   k1 = 0.2725076 (Penumbra)        Shift in      b = 0.00"
 Constants:    k2 = 0.2722810 (Umbra)       Lunar Position:   l = 0.00"

Geocentric Libration:   l =   1.5°       Brown Lun. No. = 1202
(Optical + Physical)    b =  -1.2°         Saros Series =  120 (60/71)
                        c = -24.5°            Ephemeris = (DE200/LE200)

Eclipse Magnitude = 1.04201        Gamma = 0.91831        T =    62.1 s

Polynomial Besselian Elements for: 1997 Mar 9 01:00:00.0 TDT (=t0)

  n        x          y         d          l1         l2          µ

  0  -0.5050240  0.8038157 -4.5501642  0.5369106 -0.0092008 192.335892
  1   0.5543082  0.1743588  0.0158617  0.0000486  0.0000484  15.003963
  2   0.0000134 -0.0000204  0.0000009 -0.0000130 -0.0000129   0.000001
  3  -0.0000093 -0.0000028  0.0000000  0.0000000  0.0000000   0.000000

At time 't_1' (decimal hours), each besselian element is evaluated by:

where: t = t1 - t0 (decimal hours) and t0 = 1.000

Note that all times are expressed in Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TDT).


Saros Series 120: Member 60 of 71 eclipses in series.


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