April 29, 2014, Annular Solar Eclipse Belongs to Saros Series 148

Summary: The Tuesday, April 29, 2014, annular solar eclipse belongs to Saros series 148, a series of 75 similar solar eclipses.

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 1653, opened Saros solar series 148’s lineup of 75 solar eclipses: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site

The Tuesday, April 29, 2014, annular solar eclipse belongs to Saros series 148, which comprises 75 solar eclipses with similar geometries.

April’s solar eclipse begins Tuesday, April 29, at 03:52:38.2 Universal Time, according to the NASA Eclipse Web Site. Annularity begins at 05:57:35.1 UT. Greatest eclipse takes place at 12:46:28.6 UT. Greatest eclipse refers to the instant of the closest passage of the lunar shadow cone’s axis to Earth’s center. The eclipse ends at 08:14:29.2 UT.

April 2014’s annular solar eclipse numbers as 21 in the lineup of 75 solar eclipses that compose Saros cycle 148. Similar geometries connect the series’ 75 solar eclipses as a family, known as a series.

The NASA Eclipse Web Site describes Saros 148 solar eclipses as sharing the geometry of occurring at the moon’s descending node. With each succeeding eclipse in Saros 148, the lunar movement is northward of the descending node.

A pair of ascending and descending nodes signals the intersections of Earth’s orbit by the moon’s orbit. The two nodes suggest the approximately 5.1 degree tilt of the moon’s orbit with respect to Earth’s orbit. The ascending node references the lunar orbital crossing to the north of Earth’s orbit. The descending node refers to 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 and unfolds over 12 to 13 centuries.

Saros solar series 148 lasts for 1,334.23 years, according to the NASA Eclipse Web Site. The series lasts for 14 centuries. Saros solar series 148 spans the 17th through 30th centuries.

Solar eclipses in Saros series 148 sequence as 20 partial solar eclipses, two annular solar eclipses, one hybrid solar eclipse, 40 total solar eclipses and 12 partial solar eclipses. Total solar eclipses take place as the most frequent eclipse type in Saros series 148, with a total of 40 occurrences. Partial solar eclipses appear as the second most frequent, with a total of 32 occurrences.

The partial solar eclipse of Wednesday, Sept. 21, 1653, opened Saros solar series 148. This Southern Hemisphere event’s greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 61.0 south at 149.7 west, took place over the Southern Ocean, one degree south of the overlap of Antarctica’s ocean with the southeastern Pacific Ocean.

The partial solar eclipse of Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2987, will close Saros solar series 148. This Northern Hemisphere event’s greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 65.2 north at 177.4 east, will occur over Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East.

The annular solar eclipse of Tuesday, April 29, 2014, numbers as first of two annular solar eclipses in Saros solar series 148’s annular sequence. This Southern Hemisphere event experiences its greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 70.6 south at 131.3 east, over East Antarctica, northeast of Concordia Station.

A partial solar eclipse on Wednesday, April 17, 1996, was the immediate predecessor of the April 2014 annular solar eclipse in Saros solar series 148. This Southern Hemisphere event’s greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 71.3 south at 104.0 west, occurred in the Southern Ocean, northwest of West Antarctica’s Thurston Island.

The April 1996 partial solar eclipse closed Saros solar series 148’s opening sequence of 20 partial solar eclipses. This eclipse numbered 20 in the series’ lineup of 75 solar eclipses.

An annular solar eclipse on Sunday, May 9, 2032, succeeds the April 2014 annular solar eclipse in Saros solar series 148. This Southern Hemisphere event will stage its greatest eclipse, with coordinates of 51.3 south at 7.1 west, over the open South Atlantic Ocean, northeast of South Georgia Island (where British polar explorer Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, Feb. 15, 1874-Jan. 5, 1922, is buried).

The May annular solar eclipse will occur as the second in Saros solar series 148’s sequence of two annular solar eclipses. This eclipse numbers 22 in the series’ lineup of 75 solar eclipses.

The takeaway for the Tuesday, April 29, 2014, annular solar eclipse is that the astronomical event numbers as 21 in Saros solar series 148’s lineup of 75 solar eclipses and opens the series’ sequence of two annular solar eclipses.

Partial solar eclipse of Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2987, will close Saros solar series 148’s lineup of 75 solar eclipses: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (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 Wednesday, Sept. 21, 1653, opened Saros solar series 148’s lineup of 75 solar eclipses: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/1601-1700/1653-09-21.gif

Partial solar eclipse of Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2987, will close Saros solar series 148’s lineup of 75 solar eclipses: "Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment, Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC)," via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/2901-3000/2987-12-12.gif

For further information:

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Available @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/2001-2100/2014-04-29.gif

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Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/1901-2000/1996-04-17.gif

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Available via NASA Eclipse Web Site @ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCSEmap/2901-3000/2987-12-12.gif

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