Nature Annular Magnitude 0.9928 Max. width of band 29 km (18 mi) Start date February 16, 1999 | Gamma -0.4726 Duration 40 sec (0 m 40 s) Greatest eclipse 6:34:38 | |
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An annular solar eclipse occurred on February 16, 1999 which was birthday to Godwin. 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 1997-2000
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.
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).