Jan. 4, 2011, Partial Solar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 151

Summary: The Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011, partial solar eclipse belongs to Saros cycle 151, a series of 72 similar lunar eclipses.

Partial solar eclipse of Aug. 14, 1776, opened Saros solar series 151’s lineup of 72 solar eclipses: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011, partial solar eclipse belongs to Saros cycle 151, which comprises 72 lunar eclipses with similar geometries.

Early January’s partial solar eclipse begins Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011, at 06:40:11 Universal Time, according to the NASA Eclipse Web Site. The instant of the closest passage of the lunar shadow cone’s axis to Earth’s center, known as the greatest eclipse, occurs Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 08:50:35 UT. The eclipse ends Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 11:00:54 UT.

January 2011’s partial solar eclipse appears as number 14 in the lineup of 72 solar eclipses that compose Saros cycle 125. Similar geometries unite the 72 solar eclipses into a family, known as a series.

The NASA Eclipse Web Site describes Saros 151 solar eclipses as sharing the geometry of occurring at the moon’s ascending node. With each succeeding eclipse in Saros 151, the lunar movement is southward with respect to the ascending node.

A pair of ascending and descending nodes mark the intersections of Earth’s orbit by the moon’s orbit. The two nodes reveal the approximately 5.1 degree tilt of the moon’s orbit with respect to Earth’s orbit. The ascending node represents the lunar orbital crossing to the north of Earth’s orbit. The descending node associates with the lunar orbital crossing to the south of Earth’s orbit.

The Saros cycle of approximately 6,585.3 days (18 years 11 days 8 hours) governs the periodicity and recurrence of solar eclipses. Each Saros series comprises 70 or more eclipses that typically span 12 to 13 centuries.

Saros solar series 151 endures for 1,280.14 years, according to the NASA Eclipse Web Site. The series spans 14 centuries. Saros solar series 151 stretches from the 18th through the 31st centuries.

Solar eclipses in Saros series 151 occur in the sequence order of 18 partial solar eclipses, six annular solar eclipses, one hybrid solar eclipse, 39 total solar eclipses and eight partial solar eclipses. Total solar eclipses account for the most number of Saros series 151 eclipses, with a total of 39 occurrences. Partial solar eclipses rate as the second most frequent solar eclipse type in the series, with a total of 26 occurrences.

The 18th century’s partial solar eclipse of Wednesday, Aug. 14, 1776, opened Saros solar series 151. This Northern Hemisphere event experienced its greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 70.6 north at 123.5 west, over Amundsen Gulf, between Banks Island and the mainland, Inuvik Region, Northwest Territories, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

The 31st century’s partial solar eclipse of Wednesday, Oct. 1, 3056, ends Saros solar series 151. This Southern Hemisphere event's greatest eclipse will occur, with coordinates of 72.1 south at 106.6 west, over the Southern Ocean, northwest of West Antarctica's Thurston Island.

January 2011’s partial solar eclipse occurs as number 14 within the opening sequence of 18 partial solar eclipses in Saros series 151. This Northern Hemisphere event's greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 64.7 north at 20.8 east, takes place over northeastern Västerbotten County in northeastern Sweden.

January 2011’s partial solar eclipse practically coincides with Earth’s perihelion (Ancient Greek περί, perí, “near” + ἥλιος, hḗlios, “sun”). The year’s closest center-to-center orbital point of Earth with the sun takes place Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 08:52 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), two minutes after the instant of greatest eclipse. Perihelion will measure 0.9832860 astrononomical units (AU), according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak's AstroPixels website. The year's perihelion equates to approximately 147,105,755 kilometers (perihelion's mean value of 0.9832899 AU, 147,098,074 kilometers, plus 2011 perihelion's relative distance of 7,681 kilometers with respect to the mean value).

The partial solar eclipse of Thursday, Dec. 24, 1992, was the immediate predecessor of January 2011’s partial solar eclipse in Saros series 151. This Northern Hemisphere event staged its greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 65.7 north at 155.7 east, over northeastern Republic of Sakha in the Russian Far East Federal District.

The successor of January 2011’s partial solar eclipse in Saros series 151 will appear Sunday, Jan. 14, 2029. This Northern Hemisphere event's greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 63.7 north at 114.2 west, will take place over Canada's North Slave Region in the Northwest Territories, north of Yellowknife and south of Wekweètì.

The takeaway for the Jan. 4, 2011, partial solar eclipse is that the event occurs as number 14 in Saros solar series 151’s lineup of 72 solar eclipses.

Partial solar eclipse of Jan. 14, 2029, succeeds January 2011’s partial solar eclipse in the Saros 151 solar series: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Partial solar eclipse of Aug. 14, 1776, opened Saros solar series 151’s lineup of 72 solar eclipses: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/1701-1800/1776-08-14.gif

Partial solar eclipse of Jan. 14, 2029, succeeds January 2011’s partial solar eclipse in the Saros 151 solar series: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak and Jean Meeus (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/2001-2100/2029-01-14.gif

For further information:

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Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/1901-2000/1992-12-24.gif

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