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 85 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 -0170 Mar 14. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on 1110 Apr 20. The total duration of Saros series 85 is 1280.14 years. In summary:
First Eclipse = -0170 Mar 14 10:28:38 TD
Last Eclipse = 1110 Apr 20 23:08:10 TD
Duration of Saros 85 = 1280.14 Years
Saros 85 is composed of 72 solar eclipses as follows:
| Solar Eclipses of Saros 85 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 72 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 27 | 37.5% |
| Annular | A | 29 | 40.3% |
| Total | T | 12 | 16.7% |
| Hybrid[3] | H | 4 | 5.6% |
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 85 appears in the following table.
| Umbral Eclipses of Saros 85 | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Umbral Eclipses | 45 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 42 | 93.3% |
| Central (one limit) | 1 | 2.2% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 2 | 4.4% |
The following string illustrates the sequence of the 72 eclipses in Saros 85: 8P 12T 4H 29A 19P
The longest and shortest eclipses of Saros 85 as well as other eclipse extrema are listed below.
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: 0046 Jul 22 Duration = 03m34s
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse: 0172 Oct 05 Duration = 01m56s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: 0713 Aug 26 Duration = 05m52s
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse: 0262 Nov 29 Duration = 00m11s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: 0190 Oct 16 Duration = 01m30s
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: 0244 Nov 17 Duration = 00m12s
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse: -0044 May 28 Magnitude = 0.8701
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse: -0170 Mar 14 Magnitude = 0.0356
Local circumstances at greatest eclipse[4] for every eclipse of Saros 85 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 085 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 -0170 Mar 14 10:28:38 12257 -26837 Pb 1.5120 0.0356 61.0N 5.9W 0 98
02 -37 -0152 Mar 24 18:24:00 12056 -26614 P 1.4645 0.1261 60.9N 134.4W 0 89
03 -36 -0134 Apr 05 02:10:19 11858 -26391 P 1.4096 0.2311 61.0N 99.5E 0 81
04 -35 -0116 Apr 15 09:51:58 11662 -26168 P 1.3512 0.3437 61.2N 25.5W 0 72
05 -34 -0098 Apr 26 17:26:44 11469 -25945 P 1.2874 0.4672 61.6N 148.9W 0 63
06 -33 -0080 May 07 00:58:19 11277 -25722 P 1.2210 0.5958 62.1N 88.4E 0 54
07 -32 -0062 May 18 08:24:31 11087 -25499 P 1.1504 0.7326 62.7N 33.1W 0 45
08 -31 -0044 May 28 15:49:54 10899 -25276 P 1.0793 0.8701 63.4N 154.5W 0 36
09 -30 -0026 Jun 08 23:13:01 10713 -25053 T+ 1.0068 1.0095 64.3N 84.3E 0 27 - -
10 -29 -0008 Jun 19 06:36:42 10528 -24830 T 0.9352 1.0602 82.0N 10.5E 20 64 573 03m08s
11 -28 0010 Jun 30 14:01:10 10346 -24607 T 0.8645 1.0599 83.1N 11.9W 30 154 397 03m22s
12 -27 0028 Jul 10 21:28:53 10164 -24384 T 0.7971 1.0582 75.9N 95.7W 37 184 320 03m30s
13 -26 0046 Jul 22 05:00:32 9984 -24161 T 0.7334 1.0552 68.1N 157.8E 43 193 270 03m34s
14 -25 0064 Aug 01 12:36:13 9805 -23938 T 0.6735 1.0515 60.5N 45.1E 47 198 231 03m33s
15 -24 0082 Aug 12 20:18:16 9628 -23715 T 0.6196 1.0470 53.0N 71.1W 51 200 199 03m27s
16 -23 0100 Aug 23 04:06:15 9452 -23492 T 0.5713 1.0421 45.8N 170.2E 55 201 171 03m17s
17 -22 0118 Sep 03 12:01:49 9276 -23269 T 0.5298 1.0368 38.9N 49.1E 58 201 145 03m02s
18 -21 0136 Sep 13 20:03:55 9102 -23046 T 0.4944 1.0314 32.4N 73.9W 60 201 121 02m43s
19 -20 0154 Sep 25 04:14:23 8929 -22823 T 0.4664 1.0258 26.2N 161.0E 62 200 99 02m20s
20 -19 0172 Oct 05 12:31:27 8756 -22600 T 0.4449 1.0204 20.6N 34.3E 63 199 77 01m56s
21 -18 0190 Oct 16 20:54:58 8584 -22377 H3 0.4293 1.0152 15.6N 93.9W 64 197 57 01m30s
22 -17 0208 Oct 27 05:23:55 8413 -22154 H 0.4189 1.0103 11.2N 136.7E 65 194 39 01m03s
23 -16 0226 Nov 07 13:58:09 8242 -21931 H 0.4133 1.0058 7.5N 6.2E 66 191 22 00m37s
24 -15 0244 Nov 17 22:34:57 8072 -21708 H 0.4108 1.0019 4.6N 124.7W 66 188 7 00m12s
25 -14 0262 Nov 29 07:13:23 7902 -21485 A 0.4102 0.9984 2.5N 104.2E 66 184 6 00m11s
26 -13 0280 Dec 09 15:51:37 7732 -21262 A 0.4102 0.9955 1.1N 26.8W 66 179 17 00m30s
27 -12 0298 Dec 21 00:29:21 7563 -21039 A 0.4101 0.9932 0.5N 157.5W 66 175 26 00m46s
28 -11 0316 Dec 31 09:02:13 7393 -20816 A 0.4067 0.9915 0.4N 73.0E 66 170 33 00m58s
29 -10 0335 Jan 11 17:31:30 7224 -20593 A 0.4009 0.9901 1.1N 55.7W 66 166 38 01m05s
30 -09 0353 Jan 22 01:53:03 7055 -20370 A 0.3893 0.9894 2.1N 177.7E 67 162 40 01m09s
31 -08 0371 Feb 02 10:08:42 6885 -20147 A 0.3735 0.9889 3.7N 52.5E 68 158 42 01m10s
32 -07 0389 Feb 12 18:13:26 6715 -19924 A 0.3491 0.9887 5.3N 69.8W 70 155 42 01m10s
33 -06 0407 Feb 24 02:11:01 6545 -19701 A 0.3195 0.9887 7.3N 169.8E 71 153 42 01m08s
34 -05 0425 Mar 06 09:57:04 6374 -19478 A 0.2811 0.9887 9.2N 52.5E 74 151 41 01m07s
35 -04 0443 Mar 17 17:33:56 6203 -19255 A 0.2358 0.9887 11.0N 62.2W 76 150 41 01m06s
36 -03 0461 Mar 28 00:59:22 6031 -19032 A 0.1820 0.9885 12.6N 173.7W 79 150 41 01m08s
37 -02 0479 Apr 08 08:16:42 5859 -18809 Am 0.1223 0.9881 13.8N 77.1E 83 152 42 01m11s
38 -01 0497 Apr 18 15:24:14 5686 -18586 A 0.0554 0.9873 14.3N 29.4W 87 154 45 01m18s
39 00 0515 Apr 29 22:23:38 5512 -18363 A -0.0175 0.9861 14.1N 133.7W 89 334 49 01m28s
40 01 0533 May 10 05:15:53 5337 -18140 A -0.0950 0.9844 13.0N 123.8E 85 339 56 01m43s
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 0551 May 21 12:03:02 5161 -17917 A -0.1757 0.9822 10.9N 22.3E 80 343 64 02m03s
42 03 0569 May 31 18:45:18 4981 -17694 A -0.2596 0.9794 7.7N 78.3W 75 347 76 02m29s
43 04 0587 Jun 12 01:24:29 4801 -17471 A -0.3451 0.9761 3.4N 178.7W 70 351 91 03m01s
44 05 0605 Jun 22 08:02:39 4633 -17248 A -0.4305 0.9722 1.8S 80.5E 64 356 110 03m35s
45 06 0623 Jul 03 14:41:23 4489 -17025 A -0.5142 0.9678 8.0S 21.2W 59 360 135 04m11s
46 07 0641 Jul 13 21:20:57 4345 -16802 A -0.5962 0.9630 15.0S 123.8W 53 4 167 04m45s
47 08 0659 Jul 25 04:04:28 4183 -16579 A -0.6740 0.9577 22.7S 131.6E 47 8 208 05m13s
48 09 0677 Aug 04 10:52:22 4003 -16356 A -0.7474 0.9521 31.0S 24.8E 41 12 262 05m33s
49 10 0695 Aug 15 17:47:00 3823 -16133 A -0.8142 0.9463 39.7S 85.0W 35 18 338 05m46s
50 11 0713 Aug 26 00:46:30 3671 -15910 A -0.8762 0.9401 49.0S 162.1E 28 24 458 05m52s
51 12 0731 Sep 06 07:54:58 3527 -15687 A -0.9299 0.9338 58.5S 43.3E 21 34 673 05m51s
52 13 0749 Sep 16 15:10:13 3384 -15464 As -0.9773 0.9269 68.3S 89.1W 11 56 - 05m42s
53 14 0767 Sep 27 22:34:38 3240 -15241 A- -1.0165 0.9270 72.0S 112.8E 0 100 - -
54 15 0785 Oct 08 06:06:06 3096 -15018 P -1.0495 0.8699 71.7S 14.8W 0 114
55 16 0803 Oct 19 13:46:27 2952 -14795 P -1.0747 0.8264 71.2S 144.2W 0 128
56 17 0821 Oct 29 21:33:18 2809 -14572 P -1.0942 0.7929 70.4S 85.3E 0 141
57 18 0839 Nov 10 05:25:44 2665 -14349 P -1.1088 0.7679 69.5S 46.0W 0 154
58 19 0857 Nov 20 13:23:00 2521 -14126 P -1.1192 0.7502 68.4S 177.8W 0 166
59 20 0875 Dec 01 21:23:41 2378 -13903 P -1.1270 0.7370 67.3S 50.2E 0 177
60 21 0893 Dec 12 05:25:39 2234 -13680 P -1.1334 0.7264 66.2S 81.6W 0 188
61 22 0911 Dec 23 13:26:37 2114 -13457 P -1.1406 0.7146 65.2S 147.5E 0 199
62 23 0930 Jan 02 21:26:03 2006 -13234 P -1.1490 0.7010 64.2S 17.4E 0 209
63 24 0948 Jan 14 05:22:02 1899 -13011 P -1.1604 0.6824 63.3S 111.5W 0 219
64 25 0966 Jan 24 13:11:50 1791 -12788 P -1.1766 0.6559 62.5S 121.5E 0 228
65 26 0984 Feb 04 20:55:19 1683 -12565 P -1.1979 0.6210 61.8S 3.8W 0 238
66 27 1002 Feb 15 04:30:46 1578 -12342 P -1.2256 0.5752 61.3S 126.9W 0 247
67 28 1020 Feb 26 11:58:42 1488 -12119 P -1.2592 0.5190 61.0S 112.1E 0 256
68 29 1038 Mar 08 19:16:36 1398 -11896 P -1.3010 0.4487 60.9S 6.4W 0 265
69 30 1056 Mar 19 02:27:00 1308 -11673 P -1.3488 0.3678 60.9S 123.0W 0 274
70 31 1074 Mar 30 09:28:21 1219 -11450 P -1.4035 0.2745 61.0S 122.6E 0 282
71 32 1092 Apr 09 16:21:49 1129 -11227 P -1.4644 0.1696 61.4S 10.1E 0 291
72 33 1110 Apr 20 23:08:10 1050 -11004 Pe -1.5310 0.0544 61.8S 100.7W 0 300
[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)"
