Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986

Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986
Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Hybrid
Gamma	0.9931
Magnitude	1
Maximum eclipse
Duration	0 s (0 min 0 s)
Coordinates	59°54′N 37°06′W / 59.9°N 37.1°W
Max. width of band	1 km (0.62 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	19:06:15
References
Saros	124 (53 of 73)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9479

A hybrid solar eclipse occurred on October 3, 1986. A hybrid eclipse starts and ends as an annular, but is total in the middle around the point of greatest eclipse. Totality occurred for a very short time (calculated at 0.08 seconds) in an area in the Atlantic Ocean, just east of the southern tip of Greenland. The path, on the surface of the Earth, was a narrow, tapered, horse-shoe, and visible only from a thin strip between Iceland and Greenland. At maximum eclipse the solar elevation was about 6°. The path width was just about 800 meters wide.

This eclipse was the last central eclipse of saros 124 and the only hybrid eclipse of that saros.

Solar Saros 124[edit]

This is the eclipse number 53 of Solar Saros 124.

Saros cycle 124, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 73 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 6, 1049. It contains total eclipses from June 12, 1211 through September 22, 1968 with one hybrid solar eclipse on October 3, 1986. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on May 11, 2347. The longest duration of totality was 5 minutes, 46 seconds on May 3, 1734.

Eclipse date: 3 October 1986

Saros length: 1298 years

Saros duration past: 937 years

Observations[edit]

The only witnesses of a few seconds of brief totality were the "Gang of Nine" eclipse chasers aboard a plane at an altitude of 40,000 feet.^[1]

The eclipse also resulted in litigation involving a Florida fourth grader whose eyes were allegedly damaged when he viewed the partial eclipse on school grounds. A lower court had dismissed the case on the grounds that the school had no duty to supervise the child after school hours. But the Florida Court of Appeals ruled in 1994 that the jury instruction on that question was improper, and remanded the case.^[2]

Related eclipses[edit]

Eclipses of 1986[edit]

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 124[edit]

Solar saros 124, repeating every about 18 years and 11 days, contains 73 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 6, 1049. It contains total eclipses from June 12, 1211, to September 22, 1968, and a hybrid solar eclipse on October 3, 1986. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on May 11, 2347. The longest total eclipse occurred on May 3, 1734, at 5 minutes and 46 seconds.^[3]

Series members 43–59 occur between 1801 and 2100:
43	44	45
June 16, 1806	June 26, 1824	July 8, 1842
46	47	48
July 18, 1860	July 29, 1878	August 9, 1896
49	50	51
August 21, 1914	August 31, 1932	September 12, 1950
52	53	54
September 22, 1968	October 3, 1986	October 14, 2004
55	56	57
October 25, 2022	November 4, 2040	November 16, 2058
58	59
November 26, 2076	December 7, 2094

Metonic cycle[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 descending node.

21 events between July 22, 1971 and July 22, 2047
July 21–22	May 9–11	February 26–27	December 14–15	October 2–3
116	118	120	122	124
July 22, 1971	May 11, 1975	February 26, 1979	December 15, 1982	October 3, 1986
126	128	130	132	134
July 22, 1990	May 10, 1994	February 26, 1998	December 14, 2001	October 3, 2005
136	138	140	142	144
July 22, 2009	May 10, 2013	February 26, 2017	December 14, 2020	October 2, 2024
146	148	150	152	154
July 22, 2028	May 9, 2032	February 27, 2036	December 15, 2039	October 3, 2043
156
July 22, 2047