Saros Series Catalog of Solar Eclipses

Saros Series 21

Introduction

The periodicity and recurrence of solar eclipses is governed by the Saros cycle, a period of approximately 6,585.3 days (18 years 11 days 8 hours). When two eclipses are separated by a period of one Saros, they share a very similar geometry. The two eclipses occur at the same node[1] with the Moon at nearly the same distance from Earth and at the same time of year. Thus, the Saros is useful for organizing eclipses into families or series. Each series typically lasts 12 to 13 centuries and contains 70 or more eclipses. Every saros series begins with a number of partial eclipses near one of Earth's polar regions. The series will then produce several dozen central[2] eclipses before ending with a group of partial eclipses near the opposite pole. For more information, see Periodicity of Solar Eclipses.


Statistics for Solar Eclipses of Saros 21

Solar eclipses of Saros 21 all occur at the Moon’s ascending node and the Moon moves southward with each eclipse. The series began with a partial eclipse in the northern hemisphere on -2275 May 05. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on -0995 Jun 11. The total duration of Saros series 21 is 1280.14 years. In summary:

                      First Eclipse =  -2275 May 05   01:34:14 TD
                       Last Eclipse =  -0995 Jun 11   14:37:30 TD

                      Duration of Saros  21  =  1280.14 Years

Saros 21 is composed of 72 solar eclipses as follows:

Solar Eclipses of Saros 21
Eclipse Type Symbol Number Percent
All Eclipses - 72100.0%
PartialP 14 19.4%
AnnularA 28 38.9%
TotalT 26 36.1%
Hybrid[3]H 4 5.6%

Umbral eclipses (annular, total and hybrid) can be further classified as either: 1) Central (two limits), 2) Central (one limit) or 3) Non-Central (one limit). The statistical distribution of these classes in Saros series 21 appears in the following table.

Umbral Eclipses of Saros 21
Classification Number Percent
All Umbral Eclipses 58100.0%
Central (two limits) 56 96.6%
Central (one limit) 1 1.7%
Non-Central (one limit) 1 1.7%

The following string illustrates the sequence of the 72 eclipses in Saros 21: 8P 26T 4H 28A 6P

The longest and shortest central eclipses of Saros 21 as well as largest and smallest partial eclipses are listed in the below.

Extreme Durations and Magnitudes of Solar Eclipses of Saros 21
Extrema Type Date Duration Magnitude
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse -1320 Nov 2907m23s -
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse -1590 Jun 2000m02s -
Longest Total Solar Eclipse -2095 Aug 2102m35s -
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse -1897 Dec 1901m35s -
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse -1662 May 0801m28s -
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse -1608 Jun 0900m29s -
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse -2149 Jul 20 - 0.92122
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse -2275 May 05 - 0.01302

Description of the Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 21

The catalog below lists concise details and local circumstances at greatest eclipse[5] for every solar eclipse in Saros 21. A description or explanation of each parameter listed in the catalog can be found in Key to Catalog of Solar Eclipse Saros Series.

Several fields in the catalog link to web pages or files containing additional information for each eclipse (for the years -1999 through +3000). The following gives a brief explanation of each link.


For an animation showing how the eclipse path changes with each member of the series, see Animation of Saros 21.



Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 21

                         TD of
 Seq. Rel.   Calendar   Greatest          Luna  Ecl.           Ecl.                Sun Path  Central
 Num. Num.     Date      Eclipse     ΔT   Num.  Type  Gamma    Mag.    Lat   Long  Alt Width   Dur.
                                      s                                 °      °     °    km

----- -38 -2275 May 05  01:34:14  53401 -52871   Pb   1.5208  0.0130  61.0N  89.5W   0             
----- -37 -2257 May 16  08:55:50  52931 -52648   P    1.4466  0.1572  61.4N 149.2E   0             
----- -36 -2239 May 26  16:19:31  52464 -52425   P    1.3737  0.2989  61.9N  27.3E   0             
----- -35 -2221 Jun 06  23:44:21  51998 -52202   P    1.3019  0.4386  62.6N  95.0W   0             
----- -34 -2203 Jun 17  07:12:30  51535 -51979   P    1.2329  0.5728  63.3N 141.6E   0             
----- -33 -2185 Jun 28  14:44:51  51074 -51756   P    1.1672  0.6998  64.2N  17.0E   0             
----- -32 -2167 Jul 08  22:22:54  50615 -51533   P    1.1066  0.8165  65.1N 109.4W   0             
----- -31 -2149 Jul 20  06:07:45  50158 -51310   P    1.0516  0.9212  66.1N 122.1E   0             
----- -30 -2131 Jul 30  13:58:49  49703 -51087   T+   1.0021  1.0147  67.2N   8.3W   0             
----- -29 -2113 Aug 10  21:58:24  49250 -50864   T    0.9600  1.0493  82.0N 174.0W  16  610  02m32s

----- -28 -2095 Aug 21  06:05:21  48799 -50641   T    0.9244  1.0469  79.8N   0.1E  22  417  02m35s
----- -27 -2077 Sep 01  14:21:06  48350 -50418   T    0.8962  1.0437  73.6N 146.4W  26  332  02m34s
----- -26 -2059 Sep 11  22:43:46  47904 -50195   T    0.8743  1.0401  67.3N  77.0E  29  278  02m29s
----- -25 -2041 Sep 23  07:15:00  47459 -49972   T    0.8597  1.0363  61.7N  58.2W  30  239  02m23s
----- -24 -2023 Oct 03  15:51:58  47017 -49749   T    0.8505  1.0326  56.6N 166.3E  31  209  02m15s
----- -23 -2005 Oct 15  00:34:43  46576 -49526   T    0.8465  1.0292  52.2N  30.0E  32  185  02m07s
00030 -22 -1987 Oct 25  09:21:08  46138 -49303   T    0.8460  1.0260  48.3N 107.1W  32  165  01m58s
00073 -21 -1969 Nov 05  18:10:59  45701 -49080   T    0.8487  1.0233  45.1N 115.1E  32  149  01m51s
00116 -20 -1951 Nov 16  03:00:41  45267 -48857   T    0.8520  1.0211  42.4N  22.8W  31  137  01m44s
00159 -19 -1933 Nov 27  11:49:40  44835 -48634   T    0.8553  1.0194  40.1N 160.5W  31  128  01m39s

00203 -18 -1915 Dec 07  20:35:33  44405 -48411   T    0.8567  1.0182  38.2N  62.4E  31  121  01m36s
00247 -17 -1897 Dec 19  05:18:24  43977 -48188   T    0.8559  1.0176  36.5N  73.9W  31  117  01m35s
00292 -16 -1879 Dec 29  13:53:36  43551 -47965   T    0.8495  1.0175  34.7N 151.7E  32  114  01m36s
00338 -15 -1860 Jan 09  22:23:09  43127 -47742   T    0.8391  1.0178  33.0N  19.0E  33  112  01m39s
00384 -14 -1842 Jan 20  06:43:06  42705 -47519   T    0.8212  1.0185  31.3N 110.9W  35  110  01m43s
00430 -13 -1824 Jan 31  14:55:54  42285 -47296   T    0.7981  1.0194  29.8N 121.5E  37  109  01m47s
00475 -12 -1806 Feb 10  22:57:03  41868 -47073   T    0.7659  1.0204  28.3N   2.6W  40  106  01m51s
00522 -11 -1788 Feb 22  06:50:44  41452 -46850   T    0.7280  1.0213  27.2N 124.2W  43  104  01m55s
00567 -10 -1770 Mar 04  14:33:02  41039 -46627   T    0.6815  1.0220  26.4N 117.6E  47  100  01m57s
00612 -09 -1752 Mar 14  22:07:20  40627 -46404   T    0.6290  1.0224  26.0N   2.0E  51   96  01m57s

00657 -08 -1734 Mar 26  05:31:07  40218 -46181   T    0.5685  1.0223  25.9N 110.3W  55   91  01m56s
00704 -07 -1716 Apr 05  12:48:28  39810 -45958   T    0.5035  1.0218  26.2N 139.4E  60   85  01m52s
00749 -06 -1698 Apr 16  19:57:41  39405 -45735   T    0.4325  1.0206  26.5N  31.6E  64   77  01m47s
00793 -05 -1680 Apr 27  03:00:58  39002 -45512   T    0.3575  1.0188  26.7N  74.2W  69   68  01m39s
00835 -04 -1662 May 08  09:59:19  38601 -45289   H3   0.2795  1.0162  26.7N 178.6W  74   58  01m28s
00876 -03 -1644 May 18  16:54:40  38202 -45066   H    0.2002  1.0131  26.3N  78.1E  78   46  01m13s
00917 -02 -1626 May 29  23:48:06  37805 -44843   Hm   0.1201  1.0092  25.2N  24.8W  83   32  00m54s
00958 -01 -1608 Jun 09  06:40:23  37410 -44620   H    0.0401  1.0048  23.4N 127.6W  88   16  00m29s
00999  00 -1590 Jun 20  13:34:12  37017 -44397   A   -0.0376  0.9997  20.8N 128.9E  88    1  00m02s
01040  01 -1572 Jun 30  20:30:31  36626 -44174   A   -0.1120  0.9941  17.5N  24.3E  84   21  00m40s


Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 21

                         TD of
 Seq. Rel.   Calendar   Greatest          Luna  Ecl.           Ecl.                Sun Path  Central
 Num. Num.     Date      Eclipse     ΔT   Num.  Type  Gamma    Mag.    Lat   Long  Alt Width   Dur.
                                      s                                 °      °     °    km

01081  02 -1554 Jul 12  03:30:02  36238 -43951   A   -0.1826  0.9882  13.4N  81.7W  80   42  01m24s
01121  03 -1536 Jul 22  10:35:03  35851 -43728   A   -0.2477  0.9820   8.8N 170.2E  76   66  02m13s
01161  04 -1518 Aug 02  17:46:16  35467 -43505   A   -0.3067  0.9756   3.7N  60.0E  72   92  03m03s
01201  05 -1500 Aug 13  01:05:13  35084 -43282   A   -0.3582  0.9692   1.6S  52.6W  69  119  03m52s
01241  06 -1482 Aug 24  08:30:20  34704 -43059   A   -0.4036  0.9628   7.3S 167.1W  66  147  04m37s
01281  07 -1464 Sep 03  16:04:01  34326 -42836   A   -0.4408  0.9566  12.9S  76.0E  64  175  05m17s
01322  08 -1446 Sep 14  23:45:00  33949 -42613   A   -0.4711  0.9508  18.5S  42.9W  62  203  05m50s
01363  09 -1428 Sep 25  07:33:38  33575 -42390   A   -0.4941  0.9454  24.1S 163.5W  60  230  06m17s
01404  10 -1410 Oct 06  15:28:22  33203 -42167   A   -0.5113  0.9405  29.5S  74.5E  59  255  06m39s
01445  11 -1392 Oct 16  23:29:12  32833 -41944   A   -0.5228  0.9363  34.7S  48.4W  58  276  06m55s

01486  12 -1374 Oct 28  07:34:31  32465 -41721   A   -0.5297  0.9326  39.7S 171.8W  58  295  07m08s
01528  13 -1356 Nov 07  15:41:51  32099 -41498   A   -0.5343  0.9298  44.3S  65.2E  57  311  07m16s
01570  14 -1338 Nov 18  23:51:03  31736 -41275   A   -0.5367  0.9275  48.5S  57.1W  57  323  07m22s
01613  15 -1320 Nov 29  07:59:09  31374 -41052   A   -0.5398  0.9260  52.2S 177.8W  57  331  07m23s
01657  16 -1302 Dec 10  16:05:12  31014 -40829   A   -0.5439  0.9251  55.1S  63.5E  57  337  07m21s
01701  17 -1284 Dec 21  00:05:44  30656 -40606   A   -0.5523  0.9249  57.1S  52.5W  56  340  07m16s
01746  18 -1265 Jan 01  08:01:37  30301 -40383   A   -0.5640  0.9252  58.2S 166.4W  55  342  07m07s
01792  19 -1247 Jan 11  15:49:47  29948 -40160   A   -0.5821  0.9260  58.2S  81.9E  54  343  06m56s
01837  20 -1229 Jan 22  23:29:05  29596 -39937   A   -0.6069  0.9271  57.5S  27.9W  52  344  06m42s
01882  21 -1211 Feb 02  06:58:40  29247 -39714   A   -0.6394  0.9285  56.2S 136.0W  50  347  06m28s

01927  22 -1193 Feb 13  14:18:41  28900 -39491   A   -0.6793  0.9300  54.7S 117.5E  47  354  06m14s
01972  23 -1175 Feb 23  21:28:39  28555 -39268   A   -0.7271  0.9315  53.3S  13.0E  43  367  06m01s
02019  24 -1157 Mar 07  04:27:59  28211 -39045   A   -0.7833  0.9328  52.4S  88.9W  38  395  05m49s
02065  25 -1139 Mar 17  11:18:25  27870 -38822   A   -0.8464  0.9338  52.5S 171.8E  32  452  05m38s
02110  26 -1121 Mar 28  17:59:56  27532 -38599   A   -0.9160  0.9340  54.2S  77.1E  23  599  05m27s
02155  27 -1103 Apr 08  00:33:22  27195 -38376   As  -0.9919  0.9319  59.5S   0.9W   6   -   05m07s
02198  28 -1085 Apr 19  07:00:27  26860 -38153   P   -1.0725  0.8380  60.7S  95.9W   0             
02241  29 -1067 Apr 29  13:22:50  26527 -37930   P   -1.1563  0.6953  61.1S 158.4E   0             
02284  30 -1049 May 10  19:42:41  26197 -37707   P   -1.2419  0.5490  61.6S  53.1E   0             
02327  31 -1031 May 21  01:59:28  25868 -37484   P   -1.3295  0.3988  62.2S  51.5W   0             

02370  32 -1013 Jun 01  08:18:06  25541 -37261   P   -1.4151  0.2520  62.9S 156.7W   0             
02412  33 -0995 Jun 11  14:37:30  25217 -37038   Pe  -1.4996  0.1068  63.8S  97.6E   0             


Calendar

The Gregorian calendar is used for all dates from 1582 Oct 15 onwards. Before that date, the Julian calendar is used. For more information on this topic, see Calendar Dates. The Julian calendar does not include the year 0. Thus the year 1 BCE is followed by the year 1 CE (See: BCE/CE Dating Conventions ). This is awkward for arithmetic calculations. Years in this catalog are numbered astronomically and include the year 0. Historians should note there is a difference of one year between astronomical dates and BCE dates. Thus, the astronomical year 0 corresponds to 1 BCE, and astronomical year -1 corresponds to 2 BCE, etc..


Predictions

The coordinates of the Sun used in these predictions are based on the VSOP87 theory [Bretagnon and Francou, 1988]. The Moon's coordinates are based on the ELP-2000/82 theory [Chapront-Touze and Chapront, 1983]. For more information, see: Solar and Lunar Ephemerides. The revised value used for the Moon's secular acceleration is n-dot = -25.858 arc-sec/cy*cy, as deduced from the Apollo lunar laser ranging experiment (Chapront, Chapront-Touze, and Francou, 2002).

The largest uncertainty in the eclipse predictions is caused by fluctuations in Earth's rotation due primarily to tidal friction of the Moon. The resultant drift in apparent clock time is expressed as ΔT and is determined as follows:

  1. pre-1950's: ΔT calculated from empirical fits to historical records derived by Morrison and Stephenson (2004)
  2. 1955-present: ΔT obtained from published observations
  3. future: ΔT is extrapolated from current values weighted by the long term trend from tidal effects

A series of polynomial expressions have been derived to simplify the evaluation of ΔT for any time from -1999 to +3000. The uncertainty in ΔT over this period can be estimated from scatter in the measurements.


Footnotes

[1] The Moon's orbit is inclined about 5 degrees to Earth's orbit around the Sun. The points where the lunar orbit intersects the plane of Earth's orbit are known as the nodes. The Moon moves from south to north of Earth's orbit at the ascending node, and from north to south at the descending node.

[2]Central solar eclipses are eclipses in which the central axis of the Moon's shadow strikes the Earth's surface. All partial (penumbral) eclipses are non-central eclipses since the shadow axis misses Earth. However, umbral eclipses (total, annular and hybrid) may be either central (usually) or non-central (rarely).

[3]Hybrid eclipses are also known as annular/total eclipses. Such an eclipse is both total and annular along different sections of its umbral path. For more information, see Five Millennium Catalog of Hybrid Solar Eclipses .

[4]Greatest eclipse is defined as the instant when the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to Earth's center. For total eclipses, the instant of greatest eclipse is nearly equal to the instants of greatest magnitude and greatest duration. However, for annular eclipses, the instant of greatest duration may occur at either the time of greatest eclipse or near the sunrise and sunset points of the eclipse path.


Acknowledgments

The information presented on this web page is based on data published in Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 and Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000. The individual global maps appearing in links (both GIF an animation) were extracted from full page plates appearing in Five Millennium Canon by Dan McGlaun. The Besselian elements were provided by Jean Meeus. Fred Espenak assumes full responsibility for the accuracy of all eclipse calculations.

Permission is freely granted to reproduce this data when accompanied by an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak (NASA's GSFC)"


Return to:

Saros Series Catalog of Solar Eclipses

Periodicity of Solar Eclipses

Five Millennium Catalog of Solar Eclipses

2009 Sep 26