Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983
An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on December 4, 1983. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Annularity was visible in Cape Verde, Annobón Island of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the People's Republic of Congo (today's Republic of Congo), Zaire (today's Democratic Republic of Congo), northern Uganda, southern Sudan (today's South Sudan), northwestern Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The Sun's altitude was 66°. Occurring 6.5 days before apogee (Apogee on December 11, 1983), the Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter.
Related eclipses Edit
Eclipses in 1983 Edit
- A total solar eclipse at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Saturday, June 11th, 1983.
- A partial lunar eclipse at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Saturday, June 25th, 1983.
- An annular solar eclipse at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Sunday, December 04th, 1983.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Tuesday, December 20th, 1983.
Solar eclipses of 1982–1985 Edit
This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.[1]
Note: Partial solar eclipses on January 25, 1982 and July 20, 1982 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1982–1985 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 | 1982 June 21 Partial | −1.21017 | 122 | 1982 December 15 Partial | 1.12928 | |
| 127 | 1983 June 11 Total | −0.49475 | 132 | 1983 December 4 Annular | 0.40150 | |
| 137 | 1984 May 30 Annular | 0.27552 | 142 Partial from Gisborne, NZ | 1984 November 22 Total | −0.31318 | |
| 147 | 1985 May 19 Partial | 1.07197 | 152 | 1985 November 12 Total | −0.97948 | |
Saros 132 Edit
This eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 132, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on August 13, 1208. It contains annular eclipses from March 17, 1569 through March 12, 2146, hybrid on March 23, 2164 and April 3, 2183 and total eclipses from April 14, 2200 through June 19, 2308. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 25, 2470. The longest duration of annular was 6 minutes, 56 seconds on May 9, 1641, and totality will be 2 minutes, 14 seconds on June 8, 2290. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.
| Series members 28–50 occur between 1690 and 2100: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 28 | 29 | 30 |
| June 11, 1695 | June 22, 1713 | July 4, 1731 |
| 31 | 32 | 33 |
| July 14, 1749 | July 25, 1767 | August 5, 1785 |
| 34 | 35 | 36 |
| August 17, 1803 | August 27, 1821 | September 7, 1839 |
| 37 | 38 | 39 |
| September 18, 1857 | September 29, 1875 | October 9, 1893 |
| 40 | 41 | 42 |
| October 22, 1911 | November 1, 1929 | November 12, 1947 |
| 43 | 44 | 45 |
| November 23, 1965 | December 4, 1983 | December 14, 2001 |
| 46 | 47 | 48 |
| December 26, 2019 | January 5, 2038 | January 16, 2056 |
| 49 | 50 | |
| January 27, 2074 | February 7, 2092 | |
Inex series Edit
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Inex series members between 1901 and 2100: | ||
|---|---|---|
| January 14, 1926 (Saros 130) | December 25, 1954 (Saros 131) | December 4, 1983 (Saros 132) |
| November 13, 2012 (Saros 133) | October 25, 2041 (Saros 134) | October 4, 2070 (Saros 135) |
| September 14, 2099 (Saros 136) | ||
Metonic series Edit
The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition, the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.
| 21 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between July 11, 1953 and July 11, 2029 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 10–12 | April 29–30 | February 15–16 | December 4–5 | September 21–23 |
| 116 | 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 |
| July 11, 1953 | April 30, 1957 | February 15, 1961 | December 4, 1964 | September 22, 1968 |
| 126 | 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 |
| July 10, 1972 | April 29, 1976 | February 16, 1980 | December 4, 1983 | September 23, 1987 |
| 136 | 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 |
| July 11, 1991 | April 29, 1995 | February 16, 1999 | December 4, 2002 | September 22, 2006 |
| 146 | 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 |
| July 11, 2010 | April 29, 2014 | February 15, 2018 | December 4, 2021 | September 21, 2025 |
| 156 | 158 | 160 | 162 | 164 |
| July 11, 2029 | ||||
Notes Edit
- ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
References Edit
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Google interactive map
- Besselian elements