Solar eclipse of January 16, 1972

Solar eclipse of January 16, 1972
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Annular
Gamma	-0.9365
Magnitude	0.9692
Maximum eclipse
Duration	113 sec (1 m 53 s)
Coordinates	74°54′S 107°42′E / 74.9°S 107.7°E
Max. width of band	321 km (199 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	11:03:22
References
Saros	121 (58 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9447

An annular solar eclipse occurred on January 16, 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. 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.

Related eclipses

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
Saros	Map		Saros	Map
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

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).

20 eclipse events between June 10, 1964 and August 21, 2036. 

June 10–11	March 27–29	January 15–16	November 3	August 21–22
117	119	121	123	125
June 10, 1964	March 28, 1968	January 16, 1972	November 3, 1975	August 22, 1979
127	129	131	133	135
June 11, 1983	March 29, 1987	January 15, 1991	November 3, 1994	August 22, 1998
137	139	141	143	145
June 10, 2002	March 29, 2006	January 15, 2010	November 3, 2013	August 21, 2017
147	149	151	153	155
June 10, 2021	March 29, 2025	January 14, 2029	November 3, 2032	August 21, 2036

Notes

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements