Nature Annular Magnitude 0.9937 Max. width of band 25 km (16 mi) Start date February 4, 1981 | Gamma -0.4838 Duration 33 sec (0 m 33 s) Greatest eclipse 22:09:24 | |
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An annular solar eclipse occurred on February 4–5, 1981. 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. It was visible in Australia, crossing over Tasmania near sunrise on February 5th, and ended at sunset over western South America.
Solar eclipses of 1979-1982
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.