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 47 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 -1306 Apr 02. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on -0026 May 10. The total duration of Saros series 47 is 1280.14 years. In summary:
First Eclipse = -1306 Apr 02 13:04:59 TD
Last Eclipse = -0026 May 10 15:59:57 TD
Duration of Saros 47 = 1280.14 Years
Saros 47 is composed of 72 solar eclipses as follows:
| Solar Eclipses of Saros 47 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 72 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 18 | 25.0% |
| Annular | A | 21 | 29.2% |
| Total | T | 30 | 41.7% |
| Hybrid[3] | H | 3 | 4.2% |
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 47 appears in the following table.
| Umbral Eclipses of Saros 47 | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Umbral Eclipses | 54 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 50 | 92.6% |
| Central (one limit) | 3 | 5.6% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 1 | 1.9% |
The following string illustrates the sequence of the 72 eclipses in Saros 47: 6P 21A 3H 30T 12P
The longest and shortest eclipses of Saros 47 as well as other eclipse extrema are listed below.
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: -0567 Jun 19 Duration = 06m17s
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse: -0261 Dec 21 Duration = 01m24s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: -1000 Oct 02 Duration = 03m26s
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse: -0837 Jan 08 Duration = 00m38s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -0783 Feb 09 Duration = 01m14s
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -0819 Jan 18 Duration = 00m00s
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse: -0224 Jan 12 Magnitude = 0.9932
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse: -0026 May 10 Magnitude = 0.0287
Local circumstances at greatest eclipse[4] for every eclipse of Saros 47 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 047 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 -34 -1306 Apr 02 13:04:59 30130 -40887 Pb 1.4985 0.1100 60.6N 21.2E 0 90
02 -33 -1288 Apr 12 19:37:54 29784 -40664 P 1.4205 0.2425 60.6N 87.1W 0 81
03 -32 -1270 Apr 24 02:06:07 29439 -40441 P 1.3379 0.3840 60.9N 165.7E 0 73
04 -31 -1252 May 04 08:33:10 29096 -40218 P 1.2528 0.5306 61.2N 58.7E 0 64
05 -30 -1234 May 15 14:57:03 28755 -39995 P 1.1641 0.6844 61.7N 47.6W 0 56
06 -29 -1216 May 25 21:23:51 28416 -39772 P 1.0766 0.8367 62.3N 154.8W 0 47
07 -28 -1198 Jun 06 03:50:59 28079 -39549 An 0.9885 0.9524 68.7N 110.5E 8 49 - 02m50s
08 -27 -1180 Jun 16 10:23:42 27744 -39326 A 0.9035 0.9582 77.9N 60.9E 25 98 359 02m48s
09 -26 -1162 Jun 27 16:59:29 27412 -39103 A 0.8199 0.9615 76.7N 5.3E 35 143 246 02m47s
10 -25 -1144 Jul 07 23:44:20 27081 -38880 A 0.7428 0.9638 71.7N 73.8W 42 168 197 02m48s
11 -24 -1126 Jul 19 06:35:40 26752 -38657 A 0.6701 0.9653 65.4N 166.9W 48 181 170 02m51s
12 -23 -1108 Jul 29 13:36:42 26425 -38434 A 0.6047 0.9663 58.8N 91.9E 53 189 153 02m56s
13 -22 -1090 Aug 09 20:46:57 26100 -38211 A 0.5457 0.9669 52.0N 14.7W 57 193 142 03m02s
14 -21 -1072 Aug 20 04:08:47 25777 -37988 A 0.4954 0.9673 45.3N 125.7W 60 196 135 03m08s
15 -20 -1054 Aug 31 11:40:38 25457 -37765 A 0.4526 0.9675 38.8N 119.8E 63 198 131 03m15s
16 -19 -1036 Sep 10 19:22:54 25138 -37542 A 0.4175 0.9677 32.5N 2.1E 65 199 128 03m20s
17 -18 -1018 Sep 22 03:15:47 24821 -37319 A 0.3903 0.9679 26.4N 118.6W 67 200 125 03m24s
18 -17 -1000 Oct 02 11:18:35 24506 -37096 A 0.3705 0.9684 20.8N 118.1E 68 199 122 03m26s
19 -16 -0982 Oct 13 19:29:50 24194 -36873 A 0.3566 0.9692 15.6N 7.2W 69 198 118 03m25s
20 -15 -0964 Oct 24 03:48:35 23883 -36650 A 0.3481 0.9704 10.9N 134.4W 70 197 113 03m22s
21 -14 -0946 Nov 04 12:13:23 23574 -36427 A 0.3438 0.9720 6.7N 97.1E 70 194 107 03m14s
22 -13 -0928 Nov 14 20:42:26 23267 -36204 A 0.3422 0.9742 3.2N 32.3W 70 191 98 03m01s
23 -12 -0910 Nov 26 05:13:06 22963 -35981 A 0.3411 0.9770 0.3N 161.9W 70 188 87 02m43s
24 -11 -0892 Dec 06 13:45:10 22660 -35758 A 0.3403 0.9805 2.0S 68.3E 70 184 74 02m19s
25 -10 -0874 Dec 17 22:15:39 22359 -35535 A 0.3373 0.9845 3.6S 61.0W 70 180 58 01m49s
26 -09 -0856 Dec 28 06:43:18 22060 -35312 A 0.3313 0.9892 4.6S 170.6E 71 175 40 01m15s
27 -08 -0837 Jan 08 15:06:00 21764 -35089 A 0.3204 0.9943 5.0S 43.5E 71 171 21 00m38s
28 -07 -0819 Jan 18 23:23:51 21469 -34866 H 0.3047 1.0001 4.9S 82.3W 72 166 0 00m00s
29 -06 -0801 Jan 30 07:35:26 21176 -34643 H 0.2827 1.0061 4.3S 153.5E 74 162 22 00m38s
30 -05 -0783 Feb 09 15:39:19 20886 -34420 H 0.2535 1.0125 3.4S 31.3E 75 158 44 01m14s
31 -04 -0765 Feb 20 23:36:23 20597 -34197 T 0.2177 1.0190 2.2S 89.0W 77 155 66 01m49s
32 -03 -0747 Mar 03 07:25:55 20310 -33974 T 0.1749 1.0256 0.8S 152.6E 80 153 88 02m21s
33 -02 -0729 Mar 14 15:09:18 20026 -33751 T 0.1258 1.0320 0.6N 35.9E 83 151 109 02m52s
34 -01 -0711 Mar 24 22:45:09 19743 -33528 T 0.0695 1.0382 2.0N 78.7W 86 151 128 03m21s
35 00 -0693 Apr 05 06:16:21 19451 -33305 T 0.0082 1.0440 3.2N 167.9E 90 152 147 03m49s
36 01 -0675 Apr 15 13:41:58 19147 -33082 T -0.0583 1.0493 4.1N 55.9E 87 331 164 04m17s
37 02 -0657 Apr 26 21:04:23 18847 -32859 Tm -0.1284 1.0540 4.4N 55.1W 83 333 180 04m44s
38 03 -0639 May 07 04:23:33 18552 -32636 T -0.2020 1.0580 3.9N 165.4W 78 336 195 05m10s
39 04 -0621 May 18 11:42:11 18262 -32413 T -0.2765 1.0613 2.7N 84.4E 74 339 209 05m34s
40 05 -0603 May 28 19:00:44 17976 -32190 T -0.3517 1.0637 0.7N 26.1W 69 343 222 05m54s
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 06 -0585 Jun 09 02:19:58 17695 -31967 T -0.4268 1.0652 2.4S 137.2W 65 347 235 06m10s
42 07 -0567 Jun 19 09:42:08 17418 -31744 T -0.4997 1.0659 6.2S 110.5E 60 351 248 06m17s
43 08 -0549 Jun 30 17:07:35 17146 -31521 T -0.5701 1.0657 10.9S 3.2W 55 355 261 06m16s
44 09 -0531 Jul 11 00:38:17 16877 -31298 T -0.6366 1.0648 16.4S 119.0W 50 359 275 06m05s
45 10 -0513 Jul 22 08:14:07 16613 -31075 T -0.6990 1.0630 22.4S 123.3E 45 4 289 05m44s
46 11 -0495 Aug 01 15:57:30 16353 -30852 T -0.7555 1.0607 29.0S 2.8E 41 8 304 05m17s
47 12 -0477 Aug 12 23:48:23 16097 -30629 T -0.8059 1.0578 35.8S 120.3W 36 13 321 04m46s
48 13 -0459 Aug 23 07:46:54 15844 -30406 T -0.8502 1.0546 42.8S 113.6E 31 19 341 04m14s
49 14 -0441 Sep 03 15:54:13 15595 -30183 T -0.8876 1.0509 49.9S 15.9W 27 25 366 03m41s
50 15 -0423 Sep 14 00:09:47 15350 -29960 T -0.9186 1.0472 56.7S 149.2W 23 33 399 03m12s
51 16 -0405 Sep 25 08:34:09 15109 -29737 T -0.9423 1.0435 62.9S 73.0E 19 43 440 02m45s
52 17 -0387 Oct 05 17:04:43 14871 -29514 T -0.9612 1.0400 68.5S 70.2W 15 57 500 02m22s
53 18 -0369 Oct 17 01:43:35 14637 -29291 T -0.9735 1.0368 72.5S 140.7E 12 75 570 02m04s
54 19 -0351 Oct 27 10:27:30 14405 -29068 T -0.9819 1.0341 74.9S 14.3W 10 97 664 01m49s
55 20 -0333 Nov 07 19:16:57 14177 -28845 T -0.9860 1.0321 75.8S 170.3W 8 120 736 01m39s
56 21 -0315 Nov 18 04:08:18 13953 -28622 T -0.9887 1.0306 75.6S 34.4E 7 141 807 01m32s
57 22 -0297 Nov 29 13:02:25 13731 -28399 T -0.9892 1.0298 75.1S 118.3W 7 159 815 01m28s
58 23 -0279 Dec 09 21:55:28 13512 -28176 Ts -0.9907 1.0294 73.7S 90.5E 7 176 - 01m25s
59 24 -0261 Dec 21 06:47:13 13296 -27953 Ts -0.9933 1.0291 71.0S 57.3W 5 190 - 01m24s
60 25 -0243 Dec 31 15:35:17 13083 -27730 T- -0.9993 1.0102 65.0S 161.8E 0 199 - -
61 26 -0224 Jan 12 00:19:29 12873 -27507 P -1.0087 0.9932 64.0S 20.0E 0 209
62 27 -0206 Jan 22 08:56:33 12665 -27284 P -1.0240 0.9651 63.2S 119.6W 0 219
63 28 -0188 Feb 02 17:27:14 12460 -27061 P -1.0444 0.9271 62.4S 102.6E 0 228
64 29 -0170 Feb 13 01:49:34 12257 -26838 P -1.0719 0.8758 61.8S 32.8W 0 238
65 30 -0152 Feb 24 10:04:50 12057 -26615 P -1.1053 0.8131 61.3S 166.4W 0 247
66 31 -0134 Mar 06 18:09:42 11859 -26392 P -1.1471 0.7342 61.0S 62.8E 0 256
67 32 -0116 Mar 17 02:07:30 11663 -26169 P -1.1943 0.6448 60.8S 66.2W 0 265
68 33 -0098 Mar 28 09:55:44 11470 -25946 P -1.2491 0.5408 60.8S 167.3E 0 273
69 34 -0080 Apr 07 17:37:49 11278 -25723 P -1.3085 0.4277 60.9S 42.2E 0 282
70 35 -0062 Apr 19 01:10:25 11088 -25500 P -1.3750 0.3011 61.2S 80.5W 0 291
71 36 -0044 Apr 29 08:38:41 10900 -25277 P -1.4445 0.1690 61.7S 157.7E 0 300
72 37 -0026 May 10 15:59:57 10714 -25054 Pe -1.5186 0.0287 62.3S 37.6E 0 309
[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)"
