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 146 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 1541 Sep 19. The series will end with a partial eclipse in the northern hemisphere on 2893 Dec 29. The total duration of Saros series 146 is 1352.26 years. In summary:
First Eclipse = 1541 Sep 19 20:34:01 TD
Last Eclipse = 2893 Dec 29 06:42:03 TD
Duration of Saros 146 = 1352.26 Years
Saros 146 is composed of 76 solar eclipses as follows:
| Solar Eclipses of Saros 146 | |||
| Eclipse Type | Symbol | Number | Percent |
| All Eclipses | - | 76 | 100.0% |
| Partial | P | 35 | 46.1% |
| Annular | A | 24 | 31.6% |
| Total | T | 13 | 17.1% |
| Hybrid[3] | H | 4 | 5.3% |
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 146 appears in the following table.
| Umbral Eclipses of Saros 146 | ||
| Classification | Number | Percent |
| All Umbral Eclipses | 41 | 100.0% |
| Central (two limits) | 41 | 100.0% |
| Central (one limit) | 0 | 0.0% |
| Non-Central (one limit) | 0 | 0.0% |
The following string illustrates the sequence of the 76 eclipses in Saros 146: 22P 13T 4H 24A 13P
The longest and shortest eclipses of Saros 146 as well as other eclipse extrema are listed below.
Longest Total Solar Eclipse: 1992 Jun 30 Duration = 05m21s
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse: 2154 Oct 07 Duration = 02m05s
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse: 2659 Aug 10 Duration = 03m30s
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse: 2244 Dec 01 Duration = 00m27s
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: 2172 Oct 17 Duration = 01m34s
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse: 2226 Nov 20 Duration = 00m03s
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse: 1920 May 18 Magnitude = 0.9734
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse: 2893 Dec 29 Magnitude = 0.0028
Local circumstances at greatest eclipse[4] for every eclipse of Saros 146 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 146 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 -46 1541 Sep 19 20:34:01 144 -5668 Pb -1.5140 0.0378 61.1S 135.3E 0 95
02 -45 1559 Oct 01 04:46:46 132 -5445 P -1.4772 0.1083 61.3S 3.3E 0 104
03 -44 1577 Oct 11 13:08:02 121 -5222 P -1.4473 0.1654 61.6S 130.8W 0 113
04 -43 1595 Nov 01 21:36:53 111 -4999 P -1.4233 0.2111 62.1S 93.1E 0 122
05 -42 1613 Nov 12 06:12:15 97 -4776 P -1.4048 0.2464 62.7S 44.9W 0 132
06 -41 1631 Nov 23 14:53:44 79 -4553 P -1.3912 0.2723 63.5S 175.4E 0 141
07 -40 1649 Dec 03 23:40:37 47 -4330 P -1.3820 0.2896 64.4S 34.1E 0 151
08 -39 1667 Dec 15 08:29:59 27 -4107 P -1.3752 0.3024 65.3S 108.2W 0 162
09 -38 1685 Dec 25 17:22:35 11 -3884 P -1.3710 0.3102 66.4S 108.3E 0 172
10 -37 1704 Jan 07 02:14:51 8 -3661 P -1.3669 0.3177 67.4S 35.5W 0 183
11 -36 1722 Jan 17 11:07:10 10 -3438 P -1.3629 0.3251 68.5S 179.9W 0 195
12 -35 1740 Jan 28 19:54:59 11 -3215 P -1.3555 0.3387 69.5S 36.2E 0 207
13 -34 1758 Feb 08 04:40:52 14 -2992 P -1.3468 0.3549 70.4S 107.8W 0 220
14 -33 1776 Feb 19 13:20:11 17 -2769 P -1.3334 0.3800 71.1S 109.2E 0 233
15 -32 1794 Mar 01 21:54:00 16 -2546 P -1.3155 0.4136 71.6S 32.9W 0 246
16 -31 1812 Mar 13 06:19:30 12 -2323 P -1.2913 0.4594 71.9S 173.3W 0 260
17 -30 1830 Mar 24 14:38:43 7 -2100 P -1.2622 0.5148 72.0S 47.7E 0 274
18 -29 1848 Apr 03 22:49:07 7 -1877 P -1.2264 0.5834 71.8S 89.0W 0 288
19 -28 1866 Apr 15 06:51:40 5 -1654 P -1.1846 0.6637 71.4S 136.6E 0 302
20 -27 1884 Apr 25 14:46:17 -6 -1431 P -1.1365 0.7563 70.7S 4.6E 0 315
21 -26 1902 May 07 22:34:16 0 -1208 P -1.0831 0.8593 70.0S 125.1W 0 327
22 -25 1920 May 18 06:14:55 22 -985 P -1.0239 0.9734 69.1S 107.7E 0 339
23 -24 1938 May 29 13:50:19 24 -762 T -0.9607 1.0552 52.7S 22.0W 16 354 675 04m05s
24 -23 1956 Jun 08 21:20:39 31 -539 T -0.8934 1.0581 40.8S 140.7W 26 0 429 04m45s
25 -22 1974 Jun 20 04:48:04 45 -316 T -0.8239 1.0592 32.1S 103.7E 34 5 344 05m09s
26 -21 1992 Jun 30 12:11:22 59 -93 T -0.7512 1.0592 25.2S 9.5W 41 10 294 05m21s
27 -20 2010 Jul 11 19:34:38 66 130 T -0.6788 1.0580 19.7S 121.9W 47 14 259 05m20s
28 -19 2028 Jul 22 02:56:40 76 353 T -0.6056 1.0560 15.6S 126.7E 53 17 230 05m10s
29 -18 2046 Aug 02 10:21:13 89 576 T -0.5350 1.0531 12.7S 15.2E 58 21 206 04m51s
30 -17 2064 Aug 12 17:46:06 124 799 T -0.4652 1.0495 10.9S 96.0W 62 24 184 04m28s
31 -16 2082 Aug 24 01:16:21 163 1022 T -0.4004 1.0452 10.3S 151.8E 66 26 163 04m01s
32 -15 2100 Sep 04 08:49:20 204 1245 T -0.3384 1.0402 10.5S 39.0E 70 28 142 03m32s
33 -14 2118 Sep 15 16:28:26 248 1468 T -0.2823 1.0349 11.5S 75.2W 74 29 122 03m04s
34 -13 2136 Sep 26 00:12:14 293 1691 T -0.2309 1.0292 13.0S 169.4E 77 30 101 02m34s
35 -12 2154 Oct 07 08:03:50 338 1914 T -0.1867 1.0234 15.1S 52.1E 79 29 81 02m05s
36 -11 2172 Oct 17 16:01:36 378 2137 H3 -0.1484 1.0174 17.3S 66.6W 81 28 60 01m34s
37 -10 2190 Oct 29 00:05:50 419 2360 H -0.1161 1.0116 19.6S 173.2E 83 25 40 01m04s
38 -09 2208 Nov 09 08:17:12 463 2583 H -0.0905 1.0059 21.8S 51.4E 85 22 20 00m34s
39 -08 2226 Nov 20 16:34:56 509 2806 Hm -0.0711 1.0005 23.7S 71.7W 86 19 2 00m03s
40 -07 2244 Dec 01 00:58:17 557 3029 A -0.0568 0.9955 25.1S 164.0E 87 14 16 00m27s
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 2262 Dec 12 09:25:02 607 3252 A -0.0461 0.9910 25.8S 39.0E 87 10 32 00m56s
42 -05 2280 Dec 22 17:55:44 659 3475 A -0.0392 0.9870 25.8S 86.8W 88 5 46 01m23s
43 -04 2299 Jan 03 02:27:43 713 3698 A -0.0341 0.9836 24.9S 146.9E 88 0 58 01m47s
44 -03 2317 Jan 14 10:59:38 769 3921 A -0.0298 0.9807 23.2S 20.5E 88 356 69 02m08s
45 -02 2335 Jan 25 19:29:43 827 4144 A -0.0247 0.9784 20.6S 105.9W 88 352 77 02m25s
46 -01 2353 Feb 05 03:56:55 887 4367 A -0.0179 0.9766 17.1S 128.0E 89 349 84 02m38s
47 00 2371 Feb 16 12:18:49 950 4590 A -0.0075 0.9753 12.9S 2.7E 89 348 88 02m48s
48 01 2389 Feb 26 20:33:52 1014 4813 A 0.0078 0.9744 8.1S 121.3W 90 162 92 02m55s
49 02 2407 Mar 10 04:41:40 1081 5036 A 0.0283 0.9739 2.7S 116.1E 88 163 93 02m59s
50 03 2425 Mar 20 12:41:12 1149 5259 A 0.0546 0.9735 3.1N 4.7W 87 162 95 03m02s
51 04 2443 Mar 31 20:30:25 1220 5482 A 0.0889 0.9734 9.3N 123.1W 85 163 95 03m02s
52 05 2461 Apr 11 04:10:36 1293 5705 A 0.1300 0.9732 15.8N 120.8E 82 164 97 03m02s
53 06 2479 Apr 22 11:40:30 1367 5928 A 0.1790 0.9731 22.5N 7.5E 80 165 98 03m01s
54 07 2497 May 02 19:01:52 1444 6151 A 0.2341 0.9727 29.2N 103.2W 76 167 100 02m59s
55 08 2515 May 15 02:12:11 1523 6374 A 0.2976 0.9722 36.0N 149.4E 72 170 104 02m57s
56 09 2533 May 25 09:15:50 1604 6597 A 0.3660 0.9712 42.6N 44.8E 68 174 111 02m56s
57 10 2551 Jun 05 16:10:40 1687 6820 A 0.4411 0.9699 49.0N 56.1W 64 179 121 02m55s
58 11 2569 Jun 15 23:00:08 1773 7043 A 0.5197 0.9680 54.8N 153.7W 58 186 135 02m56s
59 12 2587 Jun 27 05:42:58 1860 7266 A 0.6029 0.9656 59.9N 113.1E 53 195 156 02m58s
60 13 2605 Jul 08 12:23:21 1949 7489 A 0.6873 0.9626 64.0N 24.0E 46 207 186 03m03s
61 14 2623 Jul 19 19:00:06 2040 7712 A 0.7738 0.9589 66.8N 60.2W 39 223 235 03m10s
62 15 2641 Jul 30 01:35:56 2134 7935 A 0.8602 0.9545 68.1N 140.0W 30 242 326 03m20s
63 16 2659 Aug 10 08:11:51 2229 8158 A 0.9454 0.9487 67.6N 146.8E 19 266 584 03m30s
64 17 2677 Aug 20 14:50:18 2327 8381 P 1.0277 0.9182 61.7N 81.5E 0 296
65 18 2695 Aug 31 21:32:02 2427 8604 P 1.1064 0.7816 61.3N 27.3W 0 287
66 19 2713 Sep 12 04:18:12 2528 8827 P 1.1807 0.6536 61.1N 137.1W 0 279
67 20 2731 Sep 23 11:10:46 2632 9050 P 1.2491 0.5366 61.0N 111.6E 0 270
68 21 2749 Oct 03 18:09:52 2738 9273 P 1.3115 0.4305 61.1N 1.4W 0 261
69 22 2767 Oct 15 01:16:22 2846 9496 P 1.3673 0.3366 61.4N 116.2W 0 253
70 23 2785 Oct 25 08:31:14 2956 9719 P 1.4158 0.2555 61.8N 126.8E 0 244
71 24 2803 Nov 05 15:54:34 3068 9942 P 1.4572 0.1871 62.3N 7.6E 0 234
72 25 2821 Nov 15 23:26:43 3182 10165 P 1.4912 0.1314 63.0N 114.0W 0 225
73 26 2839 Nov 27 07:05:15 3299 10388 P 1.5198 0.0847 63.8N 122.6E 0 216
74 27 2857 Dec 07 14:52:22 3417 10611 P 1.5412 0.0502 64.8N 3.2W 0 206
75 28 2875 Dec 18 22:44:21 3537 10834 P 1.5581 0.0230 65.8N 130.6W 0 196
76 29 2893 Dec 29 06:42:03 3660 11057 Pe 1.5706 0.0028 66.8N 100.1E 0 185
[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)"
