A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Friday, December 13, 1974, with a magnitude of 0.8266. 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. A partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of North America, the Caribbean, extreme northern South America, and the Iberian Peninsula.
Eclipse details
Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.
Eclipse season
This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.
Related eclipses
Eclipses in 1974
- A partial lunar eclipse on June 4.
- A total solar eclipse on June 20.
- A total lunar eclipse on November 29.
- A partial solar eclipse on December 13.
Metonic
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 2, 1978
Tzolkinex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 2, 1967
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 25, 1982
Half-Saros
- Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of December 8, 1965
- Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 20, 1983
Tritos
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 14, 1964
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1985
Solar Saros 151
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 2, 1956
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 24, 1992
Inex
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 3, 1946
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 23, 2003
Triad
- Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 11, 1888
- Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 13, 2061
Solar eclipses of 1971–1974
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.
The partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Saros 151
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 151, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 14, 1776. It contains annular eclipses from February 28, 2101 through April 23, 2191; a hybrid eclipse on May 5, 2209; and total eclipses from May 16, 2227 through July 6, 2912. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on October 1, 3056. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 19 at 2 minutes, 44 seconds on February 28, 2101, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 60 at 5 minutes, 41 seconds on May 22, 2840. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Metonic series
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 ascending node.
Tritos series
This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
The partial solar eclipse on November 4, 2116 (part of Saros 164) is also a part of this series but is not included in the table below.
Inex series
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.
References
External links
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Google interactive map
- Besselian elements
