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 27 all occur at the Moon’s ascending node and the Moon moves southward with each eclipse. The series began with a partial eclipse in the northern hemisphere on -1993 Mar 09. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on -0713 Apr 16. The total duration of Saros series 27 is 1280.14 years. In summary:
First Eclipse = -1993 Mar 09 19:48:09 TD
Last Eclipse = -0713 Apr 16 08:59:26 TD
Duration of Saros 27 = 1280.14 Years
Saros 27 is composed of 72 solar eclipses as follows:
| Solar Eclipses of Saros 27 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 72 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 23 | 31.9% |
| Annular | A | 20 | 27.8% |
| Total | T | 14 | 19.4% |
| Hybrid[3] | H | 15 | 20.8% |
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 27 appears in the following table.
| Umbral Eclipses of Saros 27 | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Umbral Eclipses | 49 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 45 | 91.8% |
| Central (one limit) | 1 | 2.0% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 3 | 6.1% |
The following string illustrates the sequence of the 72 eclipses in Saros 27: 8P 14T 15H 20A 15P
The longest and shortest eclipses of Saros 27 as well as other eclipse extrema are listed below.
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: -1777 Jul 17 Duration = 03m53s
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse: -1615 Oct 22 Duration = 01m40s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: -1074 Sep 12 Duration = 06m19s
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse: -1326 Apr 14 Duration = 00m02s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -1597 Nov 03 Duration = 01m22s
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -1344 Apr 02 Duration = 00m06s
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse: -1867 May 24 Magnitude = 0.9844
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse: -1993 Mar 09 Magnitude = 0.0754
Local circumstances at greatest eclipse[4] for every eclipse of Saros 27 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 027 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 -38 -1993 Mar 09 19:48:09 44845 -49385 Pb 1.4907 0.0754 61.2N 5.3E 0 114
02 -37 -1975 Mar 20 03:32:45 44421 -49162 P 1.4354 0.1811 60.9N 121.5W 0 105
03 -36 -1957 Mar 31 11:10:33 44000 -48939 P 1.3744 0.2986 60.7N 113.5E 0 96
04 -35 -1939 Apr 10 18:42:36 43581 -48716 P 1.3086 0.4259 60.6N 10.0W 0 87
05 -34 -1921 Apr 22 02:10:29 43163 -48493 P 1.2395 0.5603 60.7N 132.5W 0 79
06 -33 -1903 May 02 09:35:23 42748 -48270 P 1.1681 0.6993 61.0N 105.7E 0 70
07 -32 -1885 May 13 16:58:46 42335 -48047 P 1.0951 0.8412 61.4N 15.7W 0 61
08 -31 -1867 May 24 00:20:47 41923 -47824 P 1.0213 0.9844 61.9N 137.0W 0 53
09 -30 -1849 Jun 04 07:44:24 41514 -47601 T 0.9488 1.0660 71.4N 142.5E 18 82 698 03m25s
10 -29 -1831 Jun 14 15:09:59 41107 -47378 T 0.8784 1.0667 74.3N 58.8E 28 111 459 03m40s
11 -28 -1813 Jun 25 22:38:32 40702 -47155 T 0.8105 1.0656 74.1N 28.6W 36 138 369 03m49s
12 -27 -1795 Jul 06 06:11:22 40298 -46932 T 0.7465 1.0633 71.5N 123.1W 41 160 313 03m53s
13 -26 -1777 Jul 17 13:49:57 39897 -46709 T 0.6876 1.0601 67.3N 133.8E 46 174 273 03m53s
14 -25 -1759 Jul 27 21:35:14 39498 -46486 T 0.6349 1.0561 62.3N 23.7E 50 184 240 03m49s
15 -24 -1741 Aug 08 05:26:17 39100 -46263 T 0.5875 1.0516 56.7N 91.3W 54 191 212 03m41s
16 -23 -1723 Aug 18 13:25:56 38705 -46040 T 0.5480 1.0467 51.0N 149.3E 57 195 186 03m30s
17 -22 -1705 Aug 29 21:32:37 38312 -45817 T 0.5150 1.0416 45.2N 26.8E 59 198 162 03m16s
18 -21 -1687 Sep 09 05:47:51 37921 -45594 T 0.4896 1.0364 39.5N 98.7W 60 200 140 02m59s
19 -20 -1669 Sep 20 14:08:41 37531 -45371 T 0.4697 1.0313 33.9N 133.8E 62 201 119 02m40s
20 -19 -1651 Sep 30 22:37:42 37144 -45148 T 0.4574 1.0264 28.6N 4.0E 63 201 100 02m20s
21 -18 -1633 Oct 12 07:11:21 36759 -44925 T 0.4495 1.0217 23.7N 127.2W 63 200 83 02m00s
22 -17 -1615 Oct 22 15:50:19 36376 -44702 T 0.4467 1.0176 19.2N 100.3E 63 198 67 01m40s
23 -16 -1597 Nov 03 00:31:48 35994 -44479 H 0.4466 1.0138 15.1N 32.9W 63 196 53 01m22s
24 -15 -1579 Nov 13 09:16:15 35615 -44256 H 0.4492 1.0107 11.6N 166.8W 63 193 41 01m05s
25 -14 -1561 Nov 24 17:59:42 35238 -44033 H 0.4519 1.0080 8.6N 59.6E 63 190 31 00m51s
26 -13 -1543 Dec 05 02:41:32 34863 -43810 H 0.4537 1.0060 6.2N 73.4W 63 186 23 00m39s
27 -12 -1525 Dec 16 11:19:44 34490 -43587 H 0.4531 1.0044 4.4N 154.5E 63 182 17 00m29s
28 -11 -1507 Dec 26 19:53:46 34118 -43364 H 0.4493 1.0034 3.0N 23.5E 63 178 13 00m22s
29 -10 -1488 Jan 07 04:19:45 33749 -43141 H 0.4395 1.0028 2.1N 105.3W 64 173 11 00m18s
30 -09 -1470 Jan 17 12:38:40 33382 -42918 H 0.4246 1.0025 1.6N 127.7E 65 169 9 00m16s
31 -08 -1452 Jan 28 20:47:42 33017 -42695 H 0.4021 1.0025 1.5N 3.3E 66 165 9 00m16s
32 -07 -1434 Feb 08 04:48:24 32654 -42472 H 0.3736 1.0026 1.8N 118.8W 68 161 10 00m16s
33 -06 -1416 Feb 19 12:36:46 32293 -42249 H 0.3355 1.0027 2.2N 122.4E 70 157 10 00m16s
34 -05 -1398 Mar 01 20:16:49 31933 -42026 H 0.2913 1.0027 3.0N 5.9E 73 154 10 00m16s
35 -04 -1380 Mar 12 03:44:58 31576 -41803 H 0.2381 1.0025 3.9N 107.3W 76 152 9 00m14s
36 -03 -1362 Mar 23 11:05:00 31221 -41580 H 0.1792 1.0020 4.9N 141.6E 80 151 7 00m12s
37 -02 -1344 Apr 02 18:14:26 30868 -41357 Hm 0.1122 1.0010 5.8N 33.5E 84 150 4 00m06s
38 -01 -1326 Apr 14 01:17:31 30517 -41134 A 0.0409 0.9996 6.4N 72.8W 88 151 1 00m02s
39 00 -1308 Apr 24 08:12:33 30168 -40911 A -0.0361 0.9976 6.6N 177.0W 88 331 8 00m14s
40 01 -1290 May 05 15:02:06 29821 -40688 A -0.1168 0.9951 6.3N 80.3E 83 334 17 00m30s
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 02 -1272 May 15 21:47:18 29476 -40465 A -0.2000 0.9919 5.2N 21.4W 78 337 29 00m52s
42 03 -1254 May 27 04:30:06 29133 -40242 A -0.2840 0.9882 3.2N 122.8W 74 340 43 01m19s
43 04 -1236 Jun 06 11:11:54 28791 -40019 A -0.3680 0.9838 0.4N 135.8E 68 344 61 01m54s
44 05 -1218 Jun 17 17:53:15 28452 -39796 A -0.4513 0.9790 3.5S 33.9E 63 348 83 02m34s
45 06 -1200 Jun 28 00:37:20 28115 -39573 A -0.5311 0.9736 8.1S 69.2W 58 352 111 03m19s
46 07 -1182 Jul 09 07:23:58 27780 -39350 A -0.6074 0.9678 13.7S 173.7W 53 356 146 04m04s
47 08 -1164 Jul 19 14:15:09 27447 -39127 A -0.6788 0.9617 19.9S 79.9E 47 1 189 04m46s
48 09 -1146 Jul 30 21:11:33 27116 -38904 A -0.7450 0.9554 26.8S 28.7W 42 5 244 05m22s
49 10 -1128 Aug 10 04:15:31 26787 -38681 A -0.8039 0.9490 34.1S 140.1W 36 10 314 05m49s
50 11 -1110 Aug 21 11:26:42 26460 -38458 A -0.8556 0.9425 41.7S 105.4E 31 16 409 06m07s
51 12 -1092 Aug 31 18:45:26 26135 -38235 A -0.9002 0.9361 49.5S 12.6W 25 22 544 06m17s
52 13 -1074 Sep 12 02:12:47 25812 -38012 A -0.9368 0.9299 57.2S 135.2W 20 31 754 06m19s
53 14 -1056 Sep 22 09:48:30 25491 -37789 A -0.9661 0.9240 64.5S 95.4E 14 45 1140 06m16s
54 15 -1038 Oct 03 17:31:41 25172 -37566 As -0.9885 0.9182 70.6S 46.8W 7 69 - 06m07s
55 16 -1020 Oct 14 01:21:23 24855 -37343 A- -1.0050 0.9429 71.7S 157.1E 0 105 - -
56 17 -1002 Oct 25 09:16:56 24540 -37120 A- -1.0163 0.9227 71.3S 22.9E 0 119 - -
57 18 -0984 Nov 04 17:17:19 24227 -36897 A- -1.0234 0.9099 70.7S 112.1W 0 133 - -
58 19 -0966 Nov 16 01:19:18 23916 -36674 P -1.0288 0.9002 69.9S 113.1E 0 146
59 20 -0948 Nov 26 09:23:16 23607 -36451 P -1.0323 0.8940 68.9S 21.5W 0 158
60 21 -0930 Dec 07 17:25:13 23300 -36228 P -1.0375 0.8855 67.8S 154.9W 0 170
61 22 -0912 Dec 18 01:25:26 22995 -36005 P -1.0434 0.8758 66.7S 72.8E 0 182
62 23 -0894 Dec 29 09:19:00 22692 -35782 P -1.0548 0.8575 65.6S 57.4W 0 192
63 24 -0875 Jan 08 17:08:29 22391 -35559 P -1.0690 0.8345 64.6S 174.0E 0 203
64 25 -0857 Jan 20 00:49:06 22092 -35336 P -1.0907 0.7993 63.6S 47.9E 0 213
65 26 -0839 Jan 30 08:22:00 21796 -35113 P -1.1181 0.7545 62.7S 75.8W 0 222
66 27 -0821 Feb 10 15:44:20 21501 -34890 P -1.1538 0.6955 62.0S 163.2E 0 231
67 28 -0803 Feb 20 22:58:47 21208 -34667 P -1.1957 0.6259 61.4S 44.5E 0 241
68 29 -0785 Mar 04 06:03:10 20917 -34444 P -1.2457 0.5420 61.0S 71.6W 0 250
69 30 -0767 Mar 14 12:58:32 20628 -34221 P -1.3028 0.4454 60.8S 174.7E 0 258
70 31 -0749 Mar 25 19:45:38 20341 -33998 P -1.3664 0.3371 60.6S 63.0E 0 267
71 32 -0731 Apr 05 02:25:46 20056 -33775 P -1.4353 0.2191 60.7S 46.9W 0 276
72 33 -0713 Apr 16 08:59:26 19773 -33552 Pe -1.5091 0.0917 60.9S 155.2W 0 284
[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)"
