The periodicity and recurrence of solar (and lunar) eclipses is governed by the Saros cycle, a period of approximately 6,585.3 days (18 years 11 days 8 hours). When two eclipses are separated by a period of one Saros, they share a very similar geometry. The two eclipses occur at the same node[1] with the Moon at nearly the same distance from Earth and at the same time of year. Thus, the Saros is useful for organizing eclipses into families or series. Each series typically lasts 12 to 13 centuries and contains 70 or more eclipses. Every saros series begins with a number of partial eclipses near one of Earth's polar regions. The series will then produce several dozen central[2] eclipses before ending with a group of partial eclipses near the opposite pole.
Solar eclipses of Saros 12 all occur at the Moon’s descending node and the Moon moves northward with each eclipse. The series began with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on -2662 Aug 20. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the northern hemisphere on -1129 Feb 25. The total duration of Saros series 12 is 1532.56 years. In summary:
First Eclipse = -2662 Aug 20 02:49:08 TD
Last Eclipse = -1129 Feb 25 08:00:19 TD
Duration of Saros 12 = 1532.56 Years
Saros 12 is composed of 86 solar eclipses as follows:
| Solar Eclipses of Saros 12 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 86 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 45 | 52.3% |
| Annular | A | 30 | 34.9% |
| Total | T | 8 | 9.3% |
| Hybrid[3] | H | 3 | 3.5% |
Umbral eclipses (annular, total and hybrid) can be further classified as either: 1) Central (two limits), 2) Central (one limit) or 3) Non-Central (one limit). The statistical distribution of these classes in Saros series 12 appears in the following table.
| Umbral Eclipses of Saros 12 | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Umbral Eclipses | 41 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 41 | 100.0% |
| Central (one limit) | 0 | 0.0% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 0 | 0.0% |
The following string illustrates the sequence of the 86 eclipses in Saros 12: 23P 8T 3H 30A 22P
The longest and shortest eclipses of Saros 12 as well as other eclipse extrema are listed below.
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: -2193 May 28 Duration = 03m32s
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse: -2121 Jul 11 Duration = 02m11s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: -1760 Feb 12 Duration = 05m54s
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse: -2049 Aug 23 Duration = 00m32s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -2103 Jul 21 Duration = 01m32s
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -2067 Aug 12 Duration = 00m08s
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse: -2265 Apr 15 Magnitude = 0.9949
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse: -1129 Feb 25 Magnitude = 0.0177
Local circumstances at greatest eclipse[4] for every eclipse of Saros 12 are presented in the following catalog. The sequence number in the first column links to a global map showing regions of eclipse visibility. A detailed key and additional information about the catalog can be found at: Key to Catalog of Solar Eclipse Saros Series.
For an animation showing how the eclipse path changes with each member of the series, see Saros 012 Animation.
TD of
Seq. Rel. Calendar Greatest Luna Ecl. Ecl. Sun Sun Path Central
Num. Num. Date Eclipse ΔT Num. Type Gamma Mag. Lat. Long. Alt Azm Width Dur.
s ° ° ° ° km
01 -51 -2662 Aug 20 02:49:08 61961 -57654 Pb -1.5022 0.0581 62.6S 9.2W 0 43
02 -50 -2644 Aug 30 11:08:22 61463 -57431 P -1.4745 0.1121 61.9S 145.3W 0 52
03 -49 -2626 Sep 10 19:36:49 60967 -57208 P -1.4542 0.1516 61.4S 76.5E 0 61
04 -48 -2608 Sep 21 04:12:30 60473 -56985 P -1.4396 0.1799 60.9S 63.3W 0 71
05 -47 -2590 Oct 02 12:54:21 59981 -56762 P -1.4301 0.1986 60.7S 155.4E 0 80
06 -46 -2572 Oct 12 21:42:08 59492 -56539 P -1.4256 0.2076 60.6S 12.7E 0 89
07 -45 -2554 Oct 24 06:33:55 59004 -56316 P -1.4248 0.2096 60.7S 130.9W 0 99
08 -44 -2536 Nov 03 15:27:52 58518 -56093 P -1.4258 0.2079 60.9S 84.8E 0 108
09 -43 -2518 Nov 15 00:21:55 58034 -55870 P -1.4274 0.2049 61.3S 59.5W 0 117
10 -42 -2500 Nov 25 09:15:04 57553 -55647 P -1.4287 0.2023 61.9S 156.2E 0 127
11 -41 -2482 Dec 06 18:05:29 57073 -55424 P -1.4284 0.2028 62.6S 12.4E 0 136
12 -40 -2464 Dec 17 02:50:46 56595 -55201 P -1.4247 0.2094 63.4S 130.3W 0 146
13 -39 -2446 Dec 28 11:30:43 56120 -54978 P -1.4172 0.2231 64.3S 88.0E 0 156
14 -38 -2427 Jan 07 20:03:24 55646 -54755 P -1.4046 0.2464 65.3S 52.2W 0 167
15 -37 -2409 Jan 19 04:28:05 55174 -54532 P -1.3859 0.2811 66.4S 169.2E 0 177
16 -36 -2391 Jan 29 12:43:51 54704 -54309 P -1.3607 0.3285 67.4S 32.3E 0 188
17 -35 -2373 Feb 09 20:51:14 54237 -54086 P -1.3293 0.3878 68.4S 103.0W 0 200
18 -34 -2355 Feb 20 04:49:55 53771 -53863 P -1.2916 0.4592 69.3S 123.4E 0 211
19 -33 -2337 Mar 03 12:38:56 53307 -53640 P -1.2463 0.5452 70.1S 8.3W 0 224
20 -32 -2319 Mar 13 20:20:16 52846 -53417 P -1.1954 0.6421 70.8S 138.7W 0 236
21 -31 -2301 Mar 25 03:53:15 52386 -53194 P -1.1379 0.7514 71.2S 92.6E 0 250
22 -30 -2283 Apr 04 11:20:33 51929 -52971 P -1.0766 0.8679 71.5S 34.9W 0 263
23 -29 -2265 Apr 15 18:40:04 51473 -52748 P -1.0094 0.9949 71.5S 160.7W 0 276
24 -28 -2247 Apr 26 01:56:37 51019 -52525 T -0.9405 1.0412 59.2S 36.9E 19 324 410 02m49s
25 -27 -2229 May 07 09:08:09 50568 -52302 T -0.8678 1.0416 47.4S 86.7W 29 336 279 03m14s
26 -26 -2211 May 17 16:18:37 50118 -52079 T -0.7951 1.0403 37.4S 156.1E 37 343 221 03m28s
27 -25 -2193 May 28 23:26:42 49670 -51856 T -0.7211 1.0379 28.3S 41.9E 44 348 183 03m32s
28 -24 -2175 Jun 08 06:36:24 49225 -51633 T -0.6492 1.0345 20.4S 71.4W 49 352 153 03m27s
29 -23 -2157 Jun 19 13:47:07 48781 -51410 T -0.5789 1.0303 13.4S 176.2E 55 356 126 03m10s
30 -22 -2139 Jun 29 21:00:53 48340 -51187 T -0.5119 1.0254 7.5S 63.8E 59 0 100 02m45s
31 -21 -2121 Jul 11 04:18:53 47900 -50964 T -0.4491 1.0199 2.7S 48.9W 63 5 76 02m11s
32 -20 -2103 Jul 21 11:42:44 47462 -50741 H -0.3919 1.0140 0.8N 162.4W 67 9 52 01m32s
33 -19 -2085 Aug 01 19:12:55 47027 -50518 H -0.3408 1.0078 3.1N 83.0E 70 13 28 00m51s
34 -18 -2067 Aug 12 02:49:55 46593 -50295 H -0.2961 1.0013 4.1N 33.1W 73 17 5 00m08s
35 -17 -2049 Aug 23 10:34:20 46162 -50072 A -0.2583 0.9949 3.8N 150.9W 75 21 19 00m32s
36 -16 -2031 Sep 02 18:26:36 45732 -49849 A -0.2277 0.9885 2.4N 89.2E 77 24 42 01m11s
37 -15 -2013 Sep 14 02:25:27 45305 -49626 A -0.2034 0.9824 0.1N 32.4W 78 27 64 01m48s
38 -14 -1995 Sep 24 10:31:54 44879 -49403 A -0.1863 0.9766 3.1S 156.1W 79 29 85 02m22s
39 -13 -1977 Oct 05 18:43:53 44456 -49180 A -0.1747 0.9713 6.9S 78.7E 80 30 104 02m53s
40 -12 -1959 Oct 16 03:01:44 44034 -48957 A -0.1688 0.9665 11.1S 48.0W 80 30 122 03m23s
TD of
Seq. Rel. Calendar Greatest Luna Ecl. Ecl. Sun Sun Path Central
Num. Num. Date Eclipse ΔT Num. Type Gamma Mag. Lat. Long. Alt Azm Width Dur.
s ° ° ° ° km
41 -11 -1941 Oct 27 11:21:18 43615 -48734 A -0.1649 0.9623 15.5S 175.0W 80 29 138 03m49s
42 -10 -1923 Nov 06 19:44:18 43197 -48511 A -0.1649 0.9588 19.8S 57.3E 80 28 152 04m14s
43 -09 -1905 Nov 18 04:06:24 42781 -48288 A -0.1653 0.9559 23.9S 69.7W 80 26 163 04m36s
44 -08 -1887 Nov 28 12:27:35 42368 -48065 Am -0.1654 0.9537 27.4S 164.1E 80 22 171 04m54s
45 -07 -1869 Dec 09 20:43:48 41957 -47842 A -0.1623 0.9521 30.1S 39.7E 80 18 178 05m11s
46 -06 -1851 Dec 20 04:56:02 41547 -47619 A -0.1566 0.9511 31.8S 83.1W 81 14 181 05m24s
47 -05 -1833 Dec 31 13:00:55 41140 -47396 A -0.1456 0.9506 32.3S 156.2E 81 9 183 05m35s
48 -04 -1814 Jan 10 20:57:33 40734 -47173 A -0.1287 0.9506 31.3S 37.5E 82 3 183 05m43s
49 -03 -1796 Jan 22 04:44:37 40331 -46950 A -0.1047 0.9509 29.0S 79.2W 84 358 181 05m49s
50 -02 -1778 Feb 01 12:22:05 39929 -46727 A -0.0733 0.9516 25.4S 165.9E 86 354 178 05m53s
51 -01 -1760 Feb 12 19:48:27 39530 -46504 A -0.0336 0.9523 20.5S 52.9E 88 351 175 05m54s
52 00 -1742 Feb 23 03:04:13 39132 -46281 A 0.0142 0.9531 14.6S 58.3W 89 166 171 05m53s
53 01 -1724 Mar 05 10:09:29 38737 -46058 A 0.0698 0.9538 7.9S 167.6W 86 165 169 05m50s
54 02 -1706 Mar 16 17:05:16 38343 -45835 A 0.1323 0.9544 0.5S 84.9E 82 163 168 05m44s
55 03 -1688 Mar 26 23:50:07 37952 -45612 A 0.2032 0.9547 7.6N 20.4W 78 162 169 05m37s
56 04 -1670 Apr 07 06:27:44 37563 -45389 A 0.2792 0.9546 16.1N 124.1W 74 161 172 05m29s
57 05 -1652 Apr 17 12:57:24 37175 -45166 A 0.3613 0.9542 25.1N 133.9E 69 161 179 05m19s
58 06 -1634 Apr 28 19:23:02 36790 -44943 A 0.4456 0.9533 34.3N 32.9E 63 160 190 05m08s
59 07 -1616 May 09 01:42:23 36406 -44720 A 0.5345 0.9518 43.9N 66.4W 57 160 208 04m57s
60 08 -1598 May 20 08:01:43 36025 -44497 A 0.6228 0.9498 53.6N 165.4W 51 160 235 04m46s
61 09 -1580 May 30 14:19:02 35646 -44274 A 0.7124 0.9472 63.7N 96.6E 44 161 278 04m35s
62 10 -1562 Jun 10 20:38:45 35268 -44051 A 0.7993 0.9440 74.1N 0.8W 37 162 347 04m26s
63 11 -1544 Jun 21 02:59:53 34893 -43828 A 0.8846 0.9399 85.4N 93.9W 27 167 485 04m19s
64 12 -1526 Jul 02 09:27:03 34520 -43605 A 0.9646 0.9346 80.3N 19.5W 15 341 971 04m11s
65 13 -1508 Jul 12 15:59:43 34148 -43382 P 1.0399 0.8917 65.0N 117.9W 0 342
66 14 -1490 Jul 23 22:39:19 33779 -43159 P 1.1094 0.7729 64.0N 130.9E 0 333
67 15 -1472 Aug 03 05:27:42 33412 -42936 P 1.1715 0.6673 63.2N 17.7E 0 323
68 16 -1454 Aug 14 12:25:20 33046 -42713 P 1.2259 0.5752 62.4N 97.4W 0 314
69 17 -1436 Aug 24 19:33:14 32683 -42490 P 1.2719 0.4976 61.7N 145.0E 0 305
70 18 -1418 Sep 05 02:49:50 32322 -42267 P 1.3109 0.4323 61.2N 25.5E 0 296
71 19 -1400 Sep 15 10:17:19 31962 -42044 P 1.3414 0.3816 60.8N 96.6W 0 287
72 20 -1382 Sep 26 17:53:21 31605 -41821 P 1.3651 0.3422 60.6N 139.2E 0 278
73 21 -1364 Oct 07 01:38:20 31250 -41598 P 1.3816 0.3149 60.6N 12.9E 0 268
74 22 -1346 Oct 18 09:30:13 30897 -41375 P 1.3929 0.2963 60.7N 115.2W 0 259
75 23 -1328 Oct 28 17:29:06 30545 -41152 P 1.3987 0.2867 61.0N 115.0E 0 250
76 24 -1310 Nov 09 01:31:57 30196 -40929 P 1.4018 0.2815 61.4N 16.0W 0 241
77 25 -1292 Nov 19 09:37:28 29849 -40706 P 1.4032 0.2788 62.0N 147.7W 0 231
78 26 -1274 Nov 30 17:43:47 29503 -40483 P 1.4043 0.2764 62.8N 80.2E 0 222
79 27 -1256 Dec 11 01:50:04 29160 -40260 P 1.4054 0.2739 63.7N 52.2W 0 212
80 28 -1238 Dec 22 09:52:16 28819 -40037 P 1.4105 0.2645 64.6N 176.1E 0 202
TD of
Seq. Rel. Calendar Greatest Luna Ecl. Ecl. Sun Sun Path Central
Num. Num. Date Eclipse ΔT Num. Type Gamma Mag. Lat. Long. Alt Azm Width Dur.
s ° ° ° ° km
81 29 -1219 Jan 01 17:50:57 28480 -39814 P 1.4187 0.2496 65.7N 44.9E 0 191
82 30 -1201 Jan 13 01:42:58 28142 -39591 P 1.4327 0.2247 66.7N 85.1W 0 180
83 31 -1183 Jan 23 09:30:09 27807 -39368 P 1.4509 0.1921 67.8N 145.7E 0 169
84 32 -1165 Feb 03 17:07:22 27474 -39145 P 1.4773 0.1451 68.8N 18.3E 0 158
85 33 -1147 Feb 14 00:38:45 27143 -38922 P 1.5086 0.0890 69.7N 108.1W 0 145
86 34 -1129 Feb 25 08:00:19 26814 -38699 Pe 1.5482 0.0177 70.4N 127.3E 0 133
[1] The Moon's orbit is inclined about 5 degrees to Earth's orbit around the Sun. The points where the lunar orbit intersects the plane of Earth's orbit are known as the nodes. The Moon moves from south to north of Earth's orbit at the ascending node, and from north to south at the descending node.
[2]Central solar eclipses are eclipses in which the central axis of the Moon's shadow strikes the Earth's surface. All partial (penumbral) eclipses are non-central eclipses since the shadow axis misses Earth. However, umbral eclipses (total, annular and hybrid) may be either central (usually) or non-central (rarely).
[3]Hybrid eclipses are also known as annular/total eclipses. Such an eclipse is both total and annular along different sections of its umbral path. For more information, see Five Millennium Catalog of Hybrid Solar Eclipses .
[4]Greatest eclipse is defined as the instant when the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to the Earth's center. For total eclipses, the instant of greatest eclipse is virtually identical to the instants of greatest magnitude and greatest duration. However, for annular eclipses, the instant of greatest duration may occur at either the time of greatest eclipse or near the sunrise and sunset points of the eclipse path.
The Gregorian calendar is used for all dates from 1582 Oct 15 onwards. Before that date, the Julian calendar is used. For more information on this topic, see Calendar Dates. The Julian calendar does not include the year 0. Thus the year 1 BCE is followed by the year 1 CE (See: BCE/CE Dating Conventions ). This is awkward for arithmetic calculations. Years in this catalog are numbered astronomically and include the year 0. Historians should note there is a difference of one year between astronomical dates and BCE dates. Thus, the astronomical year 0 corresponds to 1 BCE, and astronomical year -1 corresponds to 2 BCE, etc..
The coordinates of the Sun used in these predictions are based on the VSOP87 theory [Bretagnon and Francou, 1988]. The Moon's coordinates are based on the ELP-2000/82 theory [Chapront-Touze and Chapront, 1983]. For more information, see: Solar and Lunar Ephemerides. The revised value used for the Moon's secular acceleration is n-dot = -25.858 arc-sec/cy*cy, as deduced from the Apollo lunar laser ranging experiment (Chapront, Chapront-Touze, and Francou, 2002).
The largest uncertainty in the eclipse predictions is caused by fluctuations in Earth's rotation due primarily to tidal friction of the Moon. The resultant drift in apparent clock time is expressed as ΔT and is determined as follows:
A series of polynomial expressions have been derived to simplify the evaluation of ΔT for any time from -1999 to +3000. The uncertainty in ΔT over this period can be estimated from scatter in the measurements.
Special thanks to Dan McGlaun for extracting the individual eclipse maps from the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 for use in this catalog and for preparing the Saros series animations from these maps.
The Besselian elements used in the predictions were kindly provided by Jean Meeus. All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy. Some of the information presented on this web site is based on data originally published in Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000
Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:
"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)"
