Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972

Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature Total
Gamma 0.6872
Magnitude 1.0379
Maximum eclipse
Duration 156 sec (2 m 36 s)
Coordinates 63°30′N 94°12′W / 63.5°N 94.2°W / 63.5; -94.2
Max. width of band 175 km (109 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse 19:46:38
References
Saros 126 (45 of 72)
Catalog # (SE5000) 9448

A total solar eclipse occurred on July 10, 1972. 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.

It was visible as a total eclipse across northeastern Asia and northern Canada, and as a partial eclipse across the United States.

Solar eclipses of 1971-1974

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.

Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the next lunar year set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1971-1974
Descending node   Ascending node
SarosMap SarosMap
116
July 22, 1971
Partial		 121
January 16, 1972
Annular
126
July 10, 1972
Total		 131
January 4, 1973
Annular
136
June 30, 1973
Total		 141
December 24, 1973
Annular
146
June 20, 1974
Total		 151
December 13, 1974
Partial

Saros 126

It is a part of Saros cycle 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810 and hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864. It contains total eclipses from May 17, 1882 through August 23, 2044. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. The longest duration of central eclipse (annular or total) was 5 minutes, 46 seconds of annularity on November 22, 1593. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 36 seconds on July 10, 1972.[1]

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).

Carly Simon's December 1972 pop hit "You're So Vain" contains the lyric "Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun." As she started writing lyrics that would become this song on a napkin as far back as 1971, the lyrics cannot possibly have been a reference to this eclipse, but only to the one whose path of totality also crossed Nova Scotia two years earlier, on March 7, 1970.

Notes

  1. ↑ Solar_Saros_series_126, accessed October 2010

References

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