Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988

Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988
Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	0.4188
Magnitude	1.0464
Maximum eclipse
Duration	226 s (3 min 46 s)
Coordinates	20°42′N 140°00′E / 20.7°N 140°E
Max. width of band	169 km (105 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	1:58:56
References
Saros	139 (28 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9482

A total solar eclipse occurred on March 18, 1988. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Totality was visible in Indonesia and southern Philippines.

Observation[edit]

The tourism office of the General Santos City government in the Philippines promoted it as a big tourism event. Hordes of scientists, astronomers, journalists, TV crews and tourists from all over the globe observed the totality from there. Then President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino also joined in to experience the event.^[1]

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses of 1988[edit]

A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 3.
A total solar eclipse on March 18.
A partial lunar eclipse on August 27.
An annular solar eclipse on September 11.

Solar eclipses of 1986–1989[edit]

There were 8 solar eclipses between April 9, 1986 and August 31, 1989.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1986 to 1989
Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
119	1986 April 9 Partial	−1.08215	124	1986 October 3 Hybrid	0.99305
129	1987 March 29 Hybrid	−0.30531	134	1987 September 23 Annular	0.27869
139	1988 March 18 Total	0.41879	144	1988 September 11 Annular	−0.46811
149	1989 March 7 Partial	1.09815	154	1989 August 31 Partial	−1.19279

Saros 139[edit]

This eclipse is a member of saros series 139, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 17, 1501. It contains hybrid eclipses on August 11, 1627, through to December 9, 1825; and total eclipses from December 21, 1843, through to March 26, 2601. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 3, 2763. 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 solar eclipse of June 13, 2132, will be the longest total solar eclipse since July 11, 1991, at 6 minutes, 55.02 seconds.

The longest duration of totality will be produced by member 39 at 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds on July 16, 2186.^[2] After that date, the durations of totality will decrease until the series ends. This date is the longest solar eclipse computed between 4000 BC and AD 6000.^[3] Saros series eclipses occur during the Moon's ascending node (a term related to our equator and polar-naming conventions).

Series members 24–45 occur between 1901 and 2300
24	25	26
February 3, 1916	February 14, 1934	February 25, 1952
27	28	29
March 7, 1970	March 18, 1988	March 29, 2006
30	31	32
April 8, 2024	April 20, 2042	April 30, 2060
33	34	35
May 11, 2078	May 22, 2096	June 3, 2114
36	37	38
June 13, 2132	June 25, 2150	July 5, 2168
39	40	41
July 16, 2186	July 27, 2204	August 8, 2222
42	43	44
August 18, 2240	August 29, 2258	September 9, 2276
45
September 20, 2294

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:
May 18, 1901 (Saros 136)	April 28, 1930 (Saros 137)	April 8, 1959 (Saros 138)
March 18, 1988 (Saros 139)	February 26, 2017 (Saros 140)	February 5, 2046 (Saros 141)
January 16, 2075 (Saros 142)

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 ascending node.

22 eclipse events between January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018
January 4-5	October 23-24	August 10-12	May 30-31	March 18-19
111	113	115	117	119
January 5, 1935		August 12, 1942	May 30, 1946	March 18, 1950
121	123	125	127	129
January 5, 1954	October 23, 1957	August 11, 1961	May 30, 1965	March 18, 1969
131	133	135	137	139
January 4, 1973	October 23, 1976	August 10, 1980	May 30, 1984	March 18, 1988
141	143	145	147	149
January 4, 1992	October 24, 1995	August 11, 1999	May 31, 2003	March 19, 2007
151	153	155
January 4, 2011	October 23, 2014	August 11, 2018