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 sec (4 m 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 on 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 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

Solar eclipses of 1975-1978

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.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1975-1978

Ascending node			Descending node
Saros	Map		Saros	Map
118	May 11, 1975 Partial		123	November 3, 1975 Partial
128	April 29, 1976 Annular		133	October 23, 1976 Total
138	April 18, 1977 Annular		143	October 12, 1977 Total
148	April 7, 1978 Partial		153	October 2, 1978 Partial

Saros 133

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, 50 seconds on August 7, 1850.^[1] The total eclipses of this saros series are getting shorter and farther south with each iteration.

Series members 30-49 occur between 1742 and 2100 

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

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).

21 eclipse events between August 12, 1942 and August 11, 2018 

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

Notes

1. http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsaros/SEsaros133.html

References

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