Saros Series Catalog of Solar Eclipses

Saros Series 41

Introduction

The periodicity and recurrence of solar 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. For more information, see Periodicity of Solar Eclipses.


Statistics for Solar Eclipses of Saros 41

Solar eclipses of Saros 41 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 -1588 May 28. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on -0308 Jul 05. The total duration of Saros series 41 is 1280.14 years. In summary:

                      First Eclipse =  -1588 May 28   19:00:17 TD
                       Last Eclipse =  -0308 Jul 05   20:57:08 TD

                      Duration of Saros  41  =  1280.14 Years

Saros 41 is composed of 72 solar eclipses as follows:

Solar Eclipses of Saros 41
Eclipse Type Symbol Number Percent
All Eclipses - 72100.0%
PartialP 14 19.4%
AnnularA 19 26.4%
TotalT 37 51.4%
Hybrid[3]H 2 2.8%

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 41 appears in the following table.

Umbral Eclipses of Saros 41
Classification Number Percent
All Umbral Eclipses 58100.0%
Central (two limits) 57 98.3%
Central (one limit) 1 1.7%
Non-Central (one limit) 0 0.0%

The following string illustrates the sequence of the 72 eclipses in Saros 41: 7P 19A 2H 37T 7P

The longest and shortest central eclipses of Saros 41 as well as largest and smallest partial eclipses are listed in the below.

Extreme Durations and Magnitudes of Solar Eclipses of Saros 41
Extrema Type Date Duration Magnitude
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse -1318 Nov 0705m36s -
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse -1137 Feb 2300m20s -
Longest Total Solar Eclipse -0903 Jul 1305m21s -
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse -1083 Mar 2701m33s -
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse -1101 Mar 1700m59s -
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse -1119 Mar 0600m21s -
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse -0416 May 02 - 0.91800
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse -0308 Jul 05 - 0.05856

Description of the Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 41

The catalog below lists concise details and local circumstances at greatest eclipse[5] for every solar eclipse in Saros 41. A description or explanation of each parameter listed in the catalog can be found in Key to Catalog of Solar Eclipse Saros Series.

Several fields in the catalog link to web pages or files containing additional information for each eclipse (for the years -1999 through +3000). The following gives a brief explanation of each link.


For an animation showing how the eclipse path changes with each member of the series, see Animation of Saros 41.



Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 41

                         TD of
 Seq. Rel.   Calendar   Greatest          Luna  Ecl.           Ecl.                Sun Path  Central
 Num. Num.     Date      Eclipse     ΔT   Num.  Type  Gamma    Mag.    Lat   Long  Alt Width   Dur.
                                      s                                 °      °     °    km

01004 -34 -1588 May 28  19:00:17  36975 -44373   Pb   1.5121  0.0847  62.4N  83.4W   0             
01045 -33 -1570 Jun 09  01:21:29  36585 -44150   P    1.4258  0.2328  63.1N 170.4E   0             
01086 -32 -1552 Jun 19  07:45:20  36196 -43927   P    1.3403  0.3798  63.9N  63.4E   0             
01126 -31 -1534 Jun 30  14:17:09  35810 -43704   P    1.2601  0.5177  64.9N  46.0W   0             
01165 -30 -1516 Jul 10  20:55:20  35425 -43481   P    1.1840  0.6484  65.9N 157.2W   0             
01205 -29 -1498 Jul 22  03:42:06  35043 -43258   P    1.1138  0.7687  66.9N  88.9E   0             
01245 -28 -1480 Aug 01  10:37:55  34663 -43035   P    1.0501  0.8778  67.9N  27.7W   0             
01285 -27 -1462 Aug 12  17:44:37  34285 -42812   An   0.9943  0.9375  72.8N 153.1W   4   -   03m45s
01326 -26 -1444 Aug 23  01:01:34  33909 -42589   A    0.9460  0.9403  78.4N  24.5E  18  701  04m06s
01367 -25 -1426 Sep 03  08:29:04  33535 -42366   A    0.9055  0.9410  71.8N 120.0W  25  519  04m24s

01408 -24 -1408 Sep 13  16:07:15  33163 -42143   A    0.8732  0.9414  64.7N 112.0E  29  445  04m41s
01449 -23 -1390 Sep 24  23:55:59  32793 -41920   A    0.8486  0.9417  58.2N  13.5W  32  405  04m58s
01490 -22 -1372 Oct 05  07:52:53  32426 -41697   A    0.8301  0.9423  52.4N 139.3W  34  380  05m12s
01532 -21 -1354 Oct 16  15:58:40  32060 -41474   A    0.8181  0.9430  47.4N  93.6E  35  362  05m24s
01574 -20 -1336 Oct 27  00:10:24  31696 -41251   A    0.8100  0.9442  42.9N  34.5W  36  347  05m33s
01617 -19 -1318 Nov 07  08:28:14  31335 -41028   A    0.8063  0.9459  39.2N 163.9W  36  334  05m36s
01661 -18 -1300 Nov 17  16:47:32  30976 -40805   A    0.8029  0.9482  36.0N  66.4E  36  317  05m33s
01705 -17 -1282 Nov 29  01:10:19  30618 -40582   A    0.8014  0.9512  33.4N  64.0W  36  299  05m22s
01750 -16 -1264 Dec 09  09:31:31  30263 -40359   A    0.7974  0.9548  31.1N 166.0E  37  274  05m03s
01796 -15 -1246 Dec 20  17:51:39  29910 -40136   A    0.7919  0.9591  29.3N  36.4E  37  244  04m36s

01841 -14 -1228 Dec 31  02:06:33  29558 -39913   A    0.7810  0.9641  27.5N  91.7W  38  208  04m02s
01886 -13 -1209 Jan 11  10:17:51  29209 -39690   A    0.7663  0.9697  26.1N 141.3E  40  169  03m21s
01931 -12 -1191 Jan 21  18:22:28  28862 -39467   A    0.7449  0.9758  24.8N  16.3E  42  128  02m36s
01976 -11 -1173 Feb 02  02:20:12  28517 -39244   A    0.7170  0.9825  23.7N 106.5W  44   88  01m50s
02023 -10 -1155 Feb 12  10:10:21  28175 -39021   A    0.6817  0.9893  22.9N 133.1E  47   50  01m04s
02069 -09 -1137 Feb 23  17:53:24  27834 -38798   A    0.6398  0.9965  22.5N  15.0E  50   16  00m20s
02114 -08 -1119 Mar 06  01:28:48  27495 -38575   H    0.5905  1.0037  22.4N 100.6W  54   16  00m21s
02159 -07 -1101 Mar 17  08:57:26  27159 -38352   H    0.5345  1.0108  22.5N 145.9E  58   43  00m59s
02202 -06 -1083 Mar 27  16:20:02  26824 -38129   T    0.4725  1.0177  23.0N  34.4E  62   68  01m33s
02245 -05 -1065 Apr 07  23:38:13  26491 -37906   T    0.4057  1.0242  23.5N  75.6W  66   89  02m06s

02288 -04 -1047 Apr 18  06:51:18  26161 -37683   T    0.3337  1.0303  24.0N 176.1E  70  108  02m36s
02332 -03 -1029 Apr 29  14:02:41  25833 -37460   T    0.2592  1.0357  24.2N  68.6E  75  124  03m04s
02375 -02 -1011 May 09  21:12:05  25506 -37237   T    0.1822  1.0406  24.1N  38.3W  79  138  03m32s
02417 -01 -0993 May 21  04:22:36  25182 -37014   T    0.1049  1.0447  23.3N 145.4W  84  150  03m58s
02457  00 -0975 May 31  11:32:22  24860 -36791   T    0.0261  1.0480  21.8N 107.6E  88  160  04m22s
02498  01 -0957 Jun 11  18:46:35  24540 -36568   T   -0.0498  1.0506  19.6N   0.8W  87  168  04m44s
02539  02 -0939 Jun 22  02:03:20  24222 -36345   Tm  -0.1240  1.0523  16.5N 110.3W  83  175  05m02s
02579  03 -0921 Jul 03  09:26:14  23906 -36122   T   -0.1939  1.0534  12.8N 138.1E  79  180  05m15s
02619  04 -0903 Jul 13  16:53:45  23592 -35899   T   -0.2605  1.0537   8.3N  24.8E  75  184  05m21s
02659  05 -0885 Jul 25  00:29:59  23280 -35676   T   -0.3204  1.0535   3.4N  91.4W  71  187  05m20s


Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 41

                         TD of
 Seq. Rel.   Calendar   Greatest          Luna  Ecl.           Ecl.                Sun Path  Central
 Num. Num.     Date      Eclipse     ΔT   Num.  Type  Gamma    Mag.    Lat   Long  Alt Width   Dur.
                                      s                                 °      °     °    km

02700  06 -0867 Aug 04  08:13:12  22971 -35453   T   -0.3746  1.0526   1.8S 150.2E  68  188  05m11s
02741  07 -0849 Aug 15  16:04:24  22663 -35230   T   -0.4226  1.0515   7.4S  29.4E  65  188  04m58s
02781  08 -0831 Aug 26  00:04:29  22358 -35007   T   -0.4635  1.0499  13.1S  94.0W  62  186  04m40s
02822  09 -0813 Sep 06  08:13:35  22054 -34784   T   -0.4973  1.0482  18.7S 140.3E  60  184  04m22s
02863  10 -0795 Sep 16  16:31:48  21753 -34561   T   -0.5238  1.0465  24.4S  12.2E  58  181  04m03s
02904  11 -0777 Sep 28  00:57:17  21453 -34338   T   -0.5447  1.0449  29.9S 117.4W  57  177  03m46s
02945  12 -0759 Oct 08  09:31:44  21156 -34115   T   -0.5584  1.0434  35.2S 111.1E  56  174  03m31s
02987  13 -0741 Oct 19  18:12:23  20861 -33892   T   -0.5676  1.0423  40.3S  21.3W  55  171  03m19s
03031  14 -0723 Oct 30  02:58:53  20568 -33669   T   -0.5722  1.0416  45.0S 154.2W  55  169  03m10s
03075  15 -0705 Nov 10  11:48:56  20277 -33446   T   -0.5744  1.0413  49.4S  73.1E  55  169  03m04s

03119  16 -0687 Nov 20  20:42:24  19988 -33223   T   -0.5741  1.0414  53.1S  58.9W  55  170  03m01s
03164  17 -0669 Dec 02  05:36:05  19701 -33000   T   -0.5739  1.0421  56.2S 170.7E  55  172  03m01s
03209  18 -0651 Dec 12  14:29:02  19416 -32777   T   -0.5747  1.0432  58.2S  41.9E  55  177  03m03s
03254  19 -0633 Dec 23  23:19:32  19133 -32554   T   -0.5777  1.0448  59.1S  85.2W  54  184  03m08s
03301  20 -0614 Jan 03  08:06:45  18852 -32331   T   -0.5839  1.0467  58.9S 148.7E  54  192  03m13s
03348  21 -0596 Jan 14  16:47:19  18574 -32108   T   -0.5957  1.0489  57.7S  23.7E  53  202  03m21s
03395  22 -0578 Jan 25  01:22:11  18297 -31885   T   -0.6123  1.0512  55.8S 100.9W  52  214  03m28s
03442  23 -0560 Feb 05  09:48:53  18023 -31662   T   -0.6358  1.0536  53.5S 135.4E  50  229  03m37s
03487  24 -0542 Feb 15  18:09:16  17750 -31439   T   -0.6648  1.0558  51.0S  12.2E  48  245  03m45s
03532  25 -0524 Feb 27  02:19:09  17480 -31216   T   -0.7025  1.0578  48.9S 108.9W  45  265  03m52s

03577  26 -0506 Mar 09  10:22:57  17212 -30993   T   -0.7454  1.0594  47.3S 130.9E  42  288  03m59s
03622  27 -0488 Mar 19  18:16:39  16908 -30770   T   -0.7965  1.0603  46.6S  13.2E  37  321  04m03s
03666  28 -0470 Mar 31  02:04:46  16594 -30547   T   -0.8523  1.0604  47.1S 102.9W  31  372  04m03s
03710  29 -0452 Apr 10  09:43:44  16289 -30324   T   -0.9156  1.0592  49.7S 145.0E  23  476  03m55s
03753  30 -0434 Apr 21  17:18:50  15993 -30101   T   -0.9821  1.0556  56.5S  40.8E  10 1017  03m29s
03796  31 -0416 May 02  00:47:10  15704 -29878   P   -1.0535  0.9180  61.6S  64.2W   0             
03838  32 -0398 May 13  08:12:32  15423 -29655   P   -1.1272  0.7758  62.1S 174.3E   0             
03880  33 -0380 May 23  15:33:57  15148 -29432   P   -1.2034  0.6288  62.8S  53.6E   0             
03921  34 -0362 Jun 03  22:54:45  14881 -29209   P   -1.2794  0.4826  63.6S  67.1W   0             
03960  35 -0344 Jun 14  06:14:22  14619 -28986   P   -1.3557  0.3365  64.5S 172.1E   0             

04000  36 -0326 Jun 25  13:34:41  14364 -28763   P   -1.4306  0.1943  65.5S  51.0E   0             
04041  37 -0308 Jul 05  20:57:08  14115 -28540   Pe  -1.5027  0.0586  66.5S  71.1W   0             


Calendar

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..


Predictions

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:

  1. pre-1950's: ΔT calculated from empirical fits to historical records derived by Morrison and Stephenson (2004)
  2. 1955-present: ΔT obtained from published observations
  3. future: ΔT is extrapolated from current values weighted by the long term trend from tidal effects

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.


Footnotes

[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 Earth's center. For total eclipses, the instant of greatest eclipse is nearly equal 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.


Acknowledgments

The information presented on this web page is based on data published in Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 and Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000. The individual global maps appearing in links (both GIF an animation) were extracted from full page plates appearing in Five Millennium Canon by Dan McGlaun. The Besselian elements were provided by Jean Meeus. Fred Espenak assumes full responsibility for the accuracy of all eclipse calculations.

Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC)"


Return to:

Saros Series Catalog of Solar Eclipses

Periodicity of Solar Eclipses

Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses

2009 Sep 26