Nature Annular Magnitude 0.9174 Max. width of band 345 km (214 mi) Start date December 24, 1973 | Gamma 0.4171 Duration 722 sec (12 m 2 s) Greatest eclipse 15:02:44 | |
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An annular solar eclipse occurred on December 24, 1973. 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.
Contents
Solar eclipses of 1971-1974
Each member 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.
Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the next lunar year set.
Saros 141
Solar Saros 141 repeats every 18 years, 11 days and contains 70 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 19, 1613. It contains annular eclipses from August 4, 1739 through October 14, 2460. There are no total eclipses in this series. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 13, 2857.
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).