Table 1. Elements of the Total Solar Eclipse of 2003 May 31


Geocentric Conjunction      04:39:20.37 TDT     J.D. = 2452790.693986
 of Sun & Moon in R.A.:   (=04:38:15.67 UT)

      Instant of            04:09:22.42 TDT      J.D. = 2452790.673176
   Greatest Eclipse:      (=04:08:17.72 UT)


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

Sun:       R.A. = 04h30m33.482s       Moon:      R.A. = 04h29m35.526s
           Dec. =+21°50'57.15"                   Dec. =+22°43'13.15"
  Semi-Diameter =    115'46.51"          Semi-Diameter =    14'48.14"
    Eq.Hor.Par. =       54'19.28"
         Æ R.A. =       10.215s/h              Æ R.A. =      126.148s/h
         Æ Dec. =       21.78"/h               Æ Dec. =      436.27"/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 =   -2.6°       Brown Lun. No. =  995
(Optical + Physical)    b =   -1.2°         Saros Series =  147 (22/80)
                        c =   -7.2°            Ephemeris = (DE200/LE200)

Eclipse Magnitude = 0.93842        Gamma = 0.99598        ÆT =    64.7 s        T =    64.7 s


Polynomial Besselian Elements for:   2002 Dec 04   04:00:00.0 TDT  (=t0)

  n        x          y          d          l1         l2          µ

  0  -0.3238544  0.9452118 21.8459854  0.5644051  0.0181570 240.614990
  1   0.4939022  0.1263288  0.0057463 -0.0000530 -0.0000527  14.999788
  2   0.0000545 -0.0001691 -0.0000051 -0.0000098 -0.0000098  -0.000001
  3  -0.0000056 -0.0000016  0.0000000  0.0000000  0.0000000   0.000000

tan f1 = 0.0046126

tan f2 = 0.0045896

At time t1 (decimal hours), each Besselian element is evaluated by:

where: a = x, y, d, l1, l2, or µ; t = t1 - t0 (decimal hours), and t0 = 4.000 TDT

The Besselian elements were derived from a least-squares fit to elements calculated at five uniformly spaced times over a six hour period centered at t0. Thus the elements are valid over the period 1.00 < t1 < 7.00 TDT. Note that all times are expressed in Terrestrial Dynamical Time (TDT).


Saros Series 147: Member 22 of 80 eclipses in series.
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