Solar eclipse of October 23, 1976

Solar eclipse of October 23, 1976
Solar eclipse of October 23, 1976
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	−0.327
Magnitude	1.0572
Maximum eclipse
Duration	286 s (4 min 46 s)
Coordinates	30°00′S 92°18′E / 30°S 92.3°E
Max. width of band	199 km (124 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	5:13:45
References
Saros	133 (43 of 72)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9457

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of the orbit on Saturday, October 23, 1976. 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. This total solar eclipse began at sunrise in Tanzania near the border with Burundi, with the path of totality passing just north of the large Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam. It then crossed the Indian Ocean, passing St. Pierre Island, Providence Atoll and Farquhar Atoll of Seychelles before making landfall in southeastern Australia. The largest city that saw totality was Melbourne. After leaving the Australian mainland, the path of totality left the Earth's surface just north of the north island of New Zealand.

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses in 1976[edit]

An annular solar eclipse on Thursday, 29 April 1976.
A partial lunar eclipse on Thursday, 13 May 1976.
A total solar eclipse on Saturday, 23 October 1976.
A penumbral lunar eclipse on Saturday, 6 November 1976.

Solar eclipses of 1975–1978[edit]

There were 8 solar eclipses (at 6 month intervals) between May 11, 1975 and October 2, 1978.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1975 to 1978
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
118	1975 May 11 Partial	1.06472	123	1975 November 3 Partial	−1.02475
128	1976 April 29 Annular	0.33783	133	1976 October 23 Total	−0.32699
138	1977 April 18 Annular	−0.39903	143	1977 October 12 Total	0.38363
148	1978 April 7 Partial	−1.10812	153	1978 October 2 Partial	1.16164

Saros 133[edit]

Solar Saros 133, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, contains 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on July 13, 1219. It contains annular eclipses from November 20, 1435, through January 13, 1526, with a hybrid eclipse on January 24, 1544. It has total eclipses from February 3, 1562, through June 21, 2373. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on September 5, 2499. The longest duration of totality was 6 minutes, 49.97 seconds on August 7, 1850.^[1] The total eclipses of this saros series are getting shorter and farther south with each iteration. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s ascending node.

Series members 30–56 occur between 1742 and 2211
30	31	32
June 3, 1742	June 13, 1760	June 24, 1778
33	34	35
July 4, 1796	July 17, 1814	July 27, 1832
36	37	38
August 7, 1850	August 18, 1868	August 29, 1886
39	40	41
September 9, 1904	September 21, 1922	October 1, 1940
42	43	44
October 12, 1958	October 23, 1976	November 3, 1994
45	46	47
November 13, 2012	November 25, 2030	December 5, 2048
48	49	50
December 17, 2066	December 27, 2084	January 8, 2103
51	52	53
January 19, 2121	January 30, 2139	February 9, 2157
54	55	56
February 21, 2175	March 3, 2193	March 15, 2211

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