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 50 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 -1201 Feb 11. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the northern hemisphere on 0097 Apr 01. The total duration of Saros series 50 is 1298.17 years. In summary:
First Eclipse = -1201 Feb 11 18:52:54 TD
Last Eclipse = 0097 Apr 01 05:33:53 TD
Duration of Saros 50 = 1298.17 Years
Saros 50 is composed of 73 solar eclipses as follows:
| Solar Eclipses of Saros 50 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 73 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 30 | 41.1% |
| Annular | A | 22 | 30.1% |
| Total | T | 18 | 24.7% |
| Hybrid[3] | H | 3 | 4.1% |
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 50 appears in the following table.
| Umbral Eclipses of Saros 50 | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Umbral Eclipses | 43 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 42 | 97.7% |
| Central (one limit) | 1 | 2.3% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 0 | 0.0% |
The following string illustrates the sequence of the 73 eclipses in Saros 50: 8P 22A 3H 18T 22P
The longest and shortest eclipses of Saros 50 as well as other eclipse extrema are listed below.
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: -0462 Apr 30 Duration = 05m13s
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse: -0606 Feb 03 Duration = 01m53s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: -1039 May 19 Duration = 03m54s
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse: -0679 Dec 21 Duration = 00m14s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -0624 Jan 23 Duration = 01m18s
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: -0660 Jan 02 Duration = 00m14s
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse: -0282 Aug 16 Magnitude = 0.9877
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse: -1201 Feb 11 Magnitude = 0.0540
Local circumstances at greatest eclipse[4] for every eclipse of Saros 50 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 050 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 -35 -1201 Feb 11 18:52:54 28141 -39590 Pb -1.5351 0.0540 69.5S 166.3E 0 211
02 -34 -1183 Feb 22 02:06:01 27806 -39367 P -1.4909 0.1267 70.3S 44.0E 0 223
03 -33 -1165 Mar 05 09:07:32 27473 -39144 P -1.4370 0.2165 71.0S 76.0W 0 236
04 -32 -1147 Mar 15 16:03:24 27141 -38921 P -1.3779 0.3161 71.5S 165.0E 0 250
05 -31 -1129 Mar 26 22:49:48 26812 -38698 P -1.3101 0.4314 71.8S 48.1E 0 263
06 -30 -1111 Apr 06 05:31:29 26485 -38475 P -1.2378 0.5555 71.8S 67.7W 0 277
07 -29 -1093 Apr 17 12:06:21 26160 -38252 P -1.1588 0.6923 71.6S 178.3E 0 290
08 -28 -1075 Apr 27 18:39:41 25837 -38029 P -1.0776 0.8341 71.1S 65.0E 0 303
09 -27 -1057 May 09 01:09:50 25516 -37806 As -0.9924 0.9527 66.3S 56.7W 5 325 - 03m47s
10 -26 -1039 May 19 07:39:42 25196 -37583 A -0.9059 0.9606 46.8S 177.4W 25 344 338 03m54s
11 -25 -1021 May 30 14:10:31 24879 -37360 A -0.8187 0.9655 34.9S 76.4E 35 351 217 03m49s
12 -24 -1003 Jun 09 20:44:45 24564 -37137 A -0.7329 0.9694 25.3S 28.0W 43 356 162 03m38s
13 -23 -0985 Jun 21 03:23:23 24251 -36914 A -0.6495 0.9724 17.4S 131.9W 49 0 130 03m25s
14 -22 -0967 Jul 01 10:07:18 23940 -36691 A -0.5693 0.9748 10.9S 123.8E 55 5 110 03m09s
15 -21 -0949 Jul 12 16:59:24 23631 -36468 A -0.4944 0.9765 5.8S 18.4E 60 9 96 02m54s
16 -20 -0931 Jul 22 23:59:33 23324 -36245 A -0.4248 0.9778 2.1S 88.5W 65 13 87 02m41s
17 -19 -0913 Aug 03 07:08:24 23018 -36022 A -0.3615 0.9786 0.2N 162.9E 69 17 81 02m29s
18 -18 -0895 Aug 13 14:27:09 22715 -35799 A -0.3054 0.9792 1.2N 52.1E 72 21 78 02m19s
19 -17 -0877 Aug 24 21:56:33 22414 -35576 A -0.2573 0.9795 0.9N 61.3W 75 24 75 02m12s
20 -16 -0859 Sep 04 05:36:46 22115 -35353 A -0.2170 0.9797 0.4S 177.5W 77 27 74 02m07s
21 -15 -0841 Sep 15 13:26:13 21818 -35130 A -0.1834 0.9799 2.7S 63.9E 79 28 73 02m02s
22 -14 -0823 Sep 25 21:26:40 21523 -34907 A -0.1582 0.9802 5.7S 57.6W 81 29 71 01m58s
23 -13 -0805 Oct 07 05:36:11 21230 -34684 A -0.1398 0.9808 9.2S 178.6E 82 30 69 01m53s
24 -12 -0787 Oct 17 13:53:58 20939 -34461 A -0.1274 0.9817 13.1S 52.7E 83 29 65 01m47s
25 -11 -0769 Oct 28 22:18:09 20650 -34238 A -0.1195 0.9829 17.0S 74.6W 83 27 61 01m40s
26 -10 -0751 Nov 08 06:48:08 20363 -34015 A -0.1155 0.9848 20.8S 157.0E 83 25 54 01m29s
27 -09 -0733 Nov 19 15:22:07 20078 -33792 A -0.1140 0.9871 24.2S 27.9E 83 22 46 01m16s
28 -08 -0715 Nov 29 23:57:18 19795 -33569 A -0.1130 0.9900 27.0S 100.9W 83 18 35 00m59s
29 -07 -0697 Dec 11 08:33:44 19508 -33346 A -0.1121 0.9935 29.0S 130.3E 83 14 23 00m39s
30 -06 -0679 Dec 21 17:07:55 19202 -33123 A -0.1090 0.9977 30.0S 2.4E 84 9 8 00m14s
31 -05 -0660 Jan 02 01:39:34 18902 -32900 H -0.1028 1.0023 29.7S 124.7W 84 4 8 00m14s
32 -04 -0642 Jan 12 10:05:24 18606 -32677 H -0.0912 1.0075 28.2S 109.3E 85 359 26 00m45s
33 -03 -0624 Jan 23 18:26:58 18315 -32454 H -0.0754 1.0131 25.5S 16.0W 86 354 45 01m18s
34 -02 -0606 Feb 03 02:41:26 18029 -32231 T -0.0533 1.0190 21.7S 140.2W 87 351 65 01m53s
35 -01 -0588 Feb 14 10:48:38 17746 -32008 T -0.0244 1.0251 16.8S 96.7E 88 348 85 02m29s
36 00 -0570 Feb 24 18:48:18 17469 -31785 T 0.0115 1.0313 11.2S 25.1W 89 163 106 03m04s
37 01 -0552 Mar 07 02:40:48 17195 -31562 Tm 0.0541 1.0374 4.8S 145.8W 87 163 126 03m38s
38 02 -0534 Mar 18 10:26:34 16926 -31339 T 0.1029 1.0433 2.1N 94.9E 84 162 145 04m08s
39 03 -0516 Mar 28 18:05:08 16661 -31116 T 0.1583 1.0489 9.5N 23.0W 81 162 164 04m34s
40 04 -0498 Apr 09 01:38:45 16400 -30893 T 0.2186 1.0540 17.1N 139.7W 77 162 183 04m54s
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 05 -0480 Apr 19 09:07:31 16143 -30670 T 0.2839 1.0585 25.0N 104.9E 73 162 201 05m07s
42 06 -0462 Apr 30 16:32:38 15890 -30447 T 0.3529 1.0624 32.9N 9.2W 69 163 218 05m13s
43 07 -0444 May 10 23:55:15 15641 -30224 T 0.4247 1.0654 40.9N 122.1W 65 165 236 05m11s
44 08 -0426 May 22 07:16:55 15395 -30001 T 0.4979 1.0676 48.7N 126.3E 60 167 255 05m04s
45 09 -0408 Jun 01 14:38:54 15153 -29778 T 0.5714 1.0689 56.3N 16.3E 55 172 274 04m51s
46 10 -0390 Jun 12 22:01:00 14915 -29555 T 0.6452 1.0693 63.4N 90.9W 50 178 297 04m35s
47 11 -0372 Jun 23 05:26:41 14679 -29332 T 0.7165 1.0686 69.5N 165.9E 44 190 323 04m17s
48 12 -0354 Jul 04 12:55:08 14448 -29109 T 0.7859 1.0671 74.1N 70.1E 38 208 357 03m58s
49 13 -0336 Jul 14 20:29:37 14219 -28886 T 0.8505 1.0646 75.8N 18.5W 31 235 405 03m38s
50 14 -0318 Jul 26 04:08:04 13994 -28663 T 0.9118 1.0610 74.2N 106.7W 24 263 494 03m17s
51 15 -0300 Aug 05 11:55:06 13772 -28440 T 0.9664 1.0562 69.9N 158.6E 14 285 748 02m52s
52 16 -0282 Aug 16 19:47:49 13552 -28217 P 1.0166 0.9877 61.9N 61.3E 0 305
53 17 -0264 Aug 27 03:49:10 13336 -27994 P 1.0597 0.9038 61.4N 68.8W 0 295
54 18 -0246 Sep 07 11:57:32 13122 -27771 P 1.0974 0.8308 61.0N 159.4E 0 286
55 19 -0228 Sep 17 20:15:24 12912 -27548 P 1.1272 0.7730 60.8N 25.3E 0 277
56 20 -0210 Sep 29 04:40:21 12703 -27325 P 1.1518 0.7256 60.8N 110.5W 0 268
57 21 -0192 Oct 09 13:12:43 12498 -27102 P 1.1705 0.6895 60.9N 111.9E 0 259
58 22 -0174 Oct 20 21:51:48 12295 -26879 P 1.1840 0.6635 61.2N 27.4W 0 250
59 23 -0156 Oct 31 06:37:13 12094 -26656 P 1.1922 0.6476 61.6N 168.4W 0 241
60 24 -0138 Nov 11 15:26:07 11895 -26433 P 1.1981 0.6362 62.2N 49.6E 0 231
61 25 -0120 Nov 22 00:18:07 11699 -26210 P 1.2013 0.6299 62.9N 93.4W 0 222
62 26 -0102 Dec 03 09:10:52 11505 -25987 P 1.2041 0.6244 63.8N 123.2E 0 212
63 27 -0084 Dec 13 18:04:07 11313 -25764 P 1.2064 0.6199 64.8N 20.6W 0 202
64 28 -0066 Dec 25 02:53:42 11123 -25541 P 1.2115 0.6103 65.8N 163.9W 0 191
65 29 -0047 Jan 04 11:41:07 10934 -25318 P 1.2182 0.5976 66.9N 52.9E 0 180
66 30 -0029 Jan 15 20:21:59 10748 -25095 P 1.2300 0.5754 68.0N 89.2W 0 169
67 31 -0011 Jan 26 04:57:33 10563 -24872 P 1.2460 0.5453 69.0N 129.5E 0 157
68 32 0007 Feb 06 13:24:00 10380 -24649 P 1.2693 0.5016 69.9N 10.2W 0 145
69 33 0025 Feb 16 21:44:01 10198 -24426 P 1.2974 0.4485 70.7N 148.8W 0 132
70 34 0043 Feb 28 05:54:27 10018 -24203 P 1.3329 0.3816 71.3N 74.4E 0 119
71 35 0061 Mar 10 13:56:24 9839 -23980 P 1.3751 0.3017 71.7N 60.7W 0 105
72 36 0079 Mar 21 21:49:07 9661 -23757 P 1.4245 0.2084 71.8N 166.3E 0 91
73 37 0097 Apr 01 05:33:53 9485 -23534 Pe 1.4800 0.1036 71.7N 35.4E 0 78
[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)"
