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 33 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 -1982 Aug 02. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on -0485 Jan 17. The total duration of Saros series 33 is 1496.50 years. In summary:
First Eclipse = -1982 Aug 02 01:40:26 TD
Last Eclipse = -0485 Jan 17 02:08:17 TD
Duration of Saros 33 = 1496.50 Years
Saros 33 is composed of 84 solar eclipses as follows:
| Solar Eclipses of Saros 33 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 84 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 42 | 50.0% |
| Annular | A | 23 | 27.4% |
| Total | T | 15 | 17.9% |
| Hybrid[3] | H | 4 | 4.8% |
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 33 appears in the following table.
| Umbral Eclipses of Saros 33 | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Umbral Eclipses | 42 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 42 | 100.0% |
| Central (one limit) | 0 | 0.0% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 0 | 0.0% |
The following string illustrates the sequence of the 84 eclipses in Saros 33: 23P 15T 4H 23A 19P
The longest and shortest eclipses of Saros 33 as well as other eclipse extrema are listed below.
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: -1459 Jun 11 Duration = 04m34s
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse: -1315 Sep 06 Duration = 02m14s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: -0828 Jun 25 Duration = 04m51s
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse: -1225 Oct 31 Duration = 00m24s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -1297 Sep 17 Duration = 01m40s
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -1243 Oct 19 Duration = 00m04s
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse: -1585 Mar 28 Magnitude = 0.9960
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse: -0485 Jan 17 Magnitude = 0.0066
Local circumstances at greatest eclipse[4] for every eclipse of Saros 33 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 033 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 -49 -1982 Aug 02 01:40:26 44577 -49244 Pb 1.4996 0.0678 67.5N 151.3E 0 351
02 -48 -1964 Aug 12 09:35:44 44155 -49021 P 1.4540 0.1540 68.5N 19.2E 0 340
03 -47 -1946 Aug 23 17:40:35 43735 -48798 P 1.4157 0.2262 69.4N 115.8W 0 328
04 -46 -1928 Sep 03 01:53:33 43317 -48575 P 1.3838 0.2863 70.2N 106.6E 0 315
05 -45 -1910 Sep 14 10:16:33 42901 -48352 P 1.3600 0.3312 70.9N 34.2W 0 302
06 -44 -1892 Sep 24 18:46:57 42487 -48129 P 1.3420 0.3652 71.4N 177.3W 0 288
07 -43 -1874 Oct 06 03:24:58 42074 -47906 P 1.3299 0.3878 71.6N 37.3E 0 274
08 -42 -1856 Oct 16 12:08:28 41664 -47683 P 1.3223 0.4022 71.5N 109.5W 0 260
09 -41 -1838 Oct 27 20:57:36 41256 -47460 P 1.3189 0.4084 71.2N 102.5E 0 246
10 -40 -1820 Nov 07 05:49:12 40850 -47237 P 1.3177 0.4108 70.7N 45.8W 0 232
11 -39 -1802 Nov 18 14:42:23 40446 -47014 P 1.3175 0.4110 69.9N 166.1E 0 219
12 -38 -1784 Nov 28 23:35:25 40044 -46791 P 1.3172 0.4116 69.0N 18.7E 0 206
13 -37 -1766 Dec 10 08:27:16 39644 -46568 P 1.3157 0.4144 68.0N 127.7W 0 194
14 -36 -1748 Dec 20 17:14:20 39246 -46345 P 1.3104 0.4242 66.9N 87.7E 0 182
15 -35 -1729 Jan 01 01:57:02 38850 -46122 P 1.3017 0.4405 65.9N 55.4W 0 171
16 -34 -1711 Jan 11 10:32:45 38456 -45899 P 1.2875 0.4674 64.8N 163.9E 0 161
17 -33 -1693 Jan 22 19:02:44 38064 -45676 P 1.2686 0.5034 63.9N 24.9E 0 151
18 -32 -1675 Feb 02 03:22:41 37674 -45453 P 1.2417 0.5548 63.0N 111.2W 0 141
19 -31 -1657 Feb 13 11:36:16 37286 -45230 P 1.2097 0.6162 62.3N 114.5E 0 132
20 -30 -1639 Feb 23 19:39:29 36900 -45007 P 1.1695 0.6937 61.6N 17.0W 0 122
21 -29 -1621 Mar 07 03:36:28 36516 -44784 P 1.1243 0.7812 61.2N 146.8W 0 113
22 -28 -1603 Mar 17 11:23:31 36134 -44561 P 1.0711 0.8846 60.8N 86.1E 0 105
23 -27 -1585 Mar 28 19:05:42 35754 -44338 P 1.0137 0.9960 60.6N 39.8W 0 96
24 -26 -1567 Apr 08 02:40:01 35376 -44115 T 0.9502 1.0617 57.0N 130.0W 18 116 649 03m40s
25 -25 -1549 Apr 19 10:10:16 35001 -43892 T 0.8833 1.0653 55.0N 125.6E 28 124 449 04m00s
26 -24 -1531 Apr 29 17:35:10 34627 -43669 T 0.8123 1.0672 54.2N 19.8E 35 129 371 04m13s
27 -23 -1513 May 11 00:58:13 34255 -43446 T 0.7399 1.0680 53.9N 86.3W 42 135 326 04m23s
28 -22 -1495 May 21 08:18:46 33885 -43223 T 0.6657 1.0676 53.6N 168.4E 48 141 294 04m29s
29 -21 -1477 Jun 01 15:38:49 33517 -43000 T 0.5914 1.0662 52.9N 63.2E 53 149 267 04m33s
30 -20 -1459 Jun 11 22:59:34 33151 -42777 T 0.5183 1.0638 51.5N 42.3W 59 156 244 04m34s
31 -19 -1441 Jun 23 06:22:32 32787 -42554 T 0.4478 1.0606 49.3N 148.9W 63 164 223 04m32s
32 -18 -1423 Jul 03 13:48:32 32425 -42331 T 0.3805 1.0566 46.2N 102.8E 67 171 202 04m27s
33 -17 -1405 Jul 14 21:18:35 32065 -42108 T 0.3172 1.0519 42.3N 7.7W 71 177 182 04m17s
34 -16 -1387 Jul 25 04:54:11 31707 -41885 T 0.2592 1.0467 37.8N 120.7W 75 183 161 04m02s
35 -15 -1369 Aug 05 12:35:59 31352 -41662 T 0.2075 1.0410 32.8N 123.7E 78 187 140 03m41s
36 -14 -1351 Aug 15 20:23:41 30998 -41439 T 0.1616 1.0350 27.5N 5.8E 81 191 119 03m16s
37 -13 -1333 Aug 27 04:19:26 30646 -41216 T 0.1231 1.0289 22.0N 114.7W 83 193 99 02m46s
38 -12 -1315 Sep 06 12:22:22 30296 -40993 T 0.0914 1.0228 16.4N 122.5E 85 196 78 02m14s
39 -11 -1297 Sep 17 20:33:36 29948 -40770 H3 0.0674 1.0168 10.8N 2.6W 86 197 58 01m40s
40 -10 -1279 Sep 28 04:50:38 29602 -40547 H 0.0489 1.0110 5.4N 129.3W 87 198 38 01m07s
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 -09 -1261 Oct 09 13:15:03 29259 -40324 H 0.0373 1.0056 0.3N 102.3E 88 198 19 00m35s
42 -08 -1243 Oct 19 21:44:13 28917 -40101 H 0.0303 1.0006 4.6S 27.2W 88 198 2 00m04s
43 -07 -1225 Oct 31 06:17:37 28577 -39878 Am 0.0274 0.9963 9.0S 157.4W 88 196 13 00m24s
44 -06 -1207 Nov 10 14:53:08 28239 -39655 A 0.0270 0.9923 12.9S 72.2E 89 194 27 00m49s
45 -05 -1189 Nov 21 23:29:47 27903 -39432 A 0.0280 0.9891 16.3S 58.2W 88 191 38 01m11s
46 -04 -1171 Dec 02 08:05:21 27569 -39209 A 0.0291 0.9864 19.0S 172.1E 88 187 48 01m29s
47 -03 -1153 Dec 13 16:37:21 27238 -38986 A 0.0277 0.9844 21.1S 43.6E 89 182 55 01m43s
48 -02 -1135 Dec 24 01:05:28 26908 -38763 A 0.0240 0.9828 22.4S 83.7W 89 177 61 01m54s
49 -01 -1116 Jan 04 09:27:08 26580 -38540 A 0.0153 0.9818 23.0S 150.8E 89 171 65 02m00s
50 00 -1098 Jan 14 17:41:00 26254 -38317 A 0.0011 0.9811 23.1S 27.3E 90 10 67 02m03s
51 01 -1080 Jan 26 01:45:40 25931 -38094 A -0.0200 0.9808 22.5S 93.9W 89 345 68 02m03s
52 02 -1062 Feb 05 09:41:12 25609 -37871 A -0.0479 0.9806 21.6S 147.1E 87 340 69 02m02s
53 03 -1044 Feb 16 17:26:53 25289 -37648 A -0.0834 0.9805 20.3S 30.5E 85 336 70 02m00s
54 04 -1026 Feb 27 01:00:56 24971 -37425 A -0.1278 0.9803 18.9S 83.3W 83 333 70 01m59s
55 05 -1008 Mar 09 08:25:24 24656 -37202 A -0.1792 0.9801 17.4S 165.3E 80 331 72 01m59s
56 06 -0990 Mar 20 15:39:10 24342 -36979 A -0.2387 0.9795 16.2S 56.5E 76 330 75 02m02s
57 07 -0972 Mar 30 22:44:13 24030 -36756 A -0.3046 0.9787 15.3S 50.2W 72 329 79 02m08s
58 08 -0954 Apr 11 05:39:32 23721 -36533 A -0.3777 0.9774 15.0S 154.4W 68 330 86 02m18s
59 09 -0936 Apr 21 12:28:14 23413 -36310 A -0.4554 0.9757 15.5S 102.9E 63 331 96 02m32s
60 10 -0918 May 02 19:10:05 23107 -36087 A -0.5374 0.9733 17.0S 1.9E 57 333 111 02m52s
61 11 -0900 May 13 01:46:44 22803 -35864 A -0.6227 0.9703 19.8S 98.1W 51 336 133 03m16s
62 12 -0882 May 24 08:19:43 22502 -35641 A -0.7099 0.9666 23.9S 162.5E 45 339 167 03m44s
63 13 -0864 Jun 03 14:50:41 22202 -35418 A -0.7974 0.9623 29.9S 63.2E 37 342 223 04m13s
64 14 -0846 Jun 14 21:21:50 21905 -35195 A -0.8837 0.9570 38.2S 36.7W 28 345 333 04m38s
65 15 -0828 Jun 25 03:52:55 21609 -34972 A -0.9689 0.9501 51.8S 136.4W 14 348 763 04m51s
66 16 -0810 Jul 06 10:28:10 21315 -34749 P -1.0492 0.8815 66.0S 120.3E 0 352
67 17 -0792 Jul 16 17:06:39 21024 -34526 P -1.1258 0.7483 67.0S 8.9E 0 2
68 18 -0774 Jul 27 23:52:12 20734 -34303 P -1.1957 0.6275 68.1S 104.9W 0 13
69 19 -0756 Aug 07 06:42:52 20446 -34080 P -1.2607 0.5162 69.1S 139.6E 0 24
70 20 -0738 Aug 18 13:43:07 20161 -33857 P -1.3171 0.4204 70.0S 21.1E 0 36
71 21 -0720 Aug 28 20:50:35 19877 -33634 P -1.3668 0.3368 70.7S 99.9W 0 49
72 22 -0702 Sep 09 04:07:20 19595 -33411 P -1.4085 0.2675 71.3S 136.3E 0 62
73 23 -0684 Sep 19 11:32:18 19291 -33188 P -1.4430 0.2106 71.7S 9.8E 0 76
74 24 -0666 Sep 30 19:07:00 18989 -32965 P -1.4695 0.1675 71.8S 119.3W 0 90
75 25 -0648 Oct 11 02:49:02 18692 -32742 P -1.4896 0.1352 71.7S 109.8E 0 104
76 26 -0630 Oct 22 10:37:57 18399 -32519 P -1.5039 0.1124 71.3S 22.7W 0 118
77 27 -0612 Nov 01 18:32:05 18112 -32296 P -1.5137 0.0970 70.7S 155.9W 0 132
78 28 -0594 Nov 13 02:31:13 17828 -32073 P -1.5195 0.0880 69.9S 70.2E 0 145
79 29 -0576 Nov 23 10:31:23 17549 -31850 P -1.5242 0.0804 68.9S 63.3W 0 158
80 30 -0558 Dec 04 18:33:02 17275 -31627 P -1.5277 0.0747 67.9S 163.5E 0 170
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 31 -0540 Dec 15 02:32:19 17004 -31404 P -1.5331 0.0654 66.8S 31.5E 0 181
82 32 -0522 Dec 26 10:30:10 16738 -31181 P -1.5394 0.0543 65.7S 99.6W 0 192
83 33 -0503 Jan 05 18:21:11 16476 -30958 P -1.5515 0.0332 64.7S 131.5E 0 202
84 34 -0485 Jan 17 02:08:17 16218 -30735 Pe -1.5666 0.0066 63.7S 3.9E 0 212
[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)"
