Saros 66

Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 66

Fred Espenak

Introduction

A solar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon's shadow passes across Earth's surface. At least two solar eclipses and as many as five occur every year.

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 with the Moon at nearly the same distance from Earth and the same time of year due to a harmonic in three cycles of the Moon's orbit. 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 eclipses before ending with a group of partial eclipses near the opposite pole. For more information, see Periodicity of Solar Eclipses.

Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 66

The table below lists the concise characteristics of every solar eclipse belonging to Saros 66 . The date and time of each eclipse is given for the instant of Greatest Eclipse. For eclipses between the years -1999 to 3000, the calendar date links to a web page containing additional details and a map showing the geographic region of eclipse visibility for that eclipse. A description of each parameter in the catalog table can be found in Key to Saros Catalog of Solar Eclipses.

Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 66
Seq Num Rel Num Calendar Date TD of Greatest Eclipse ΔT

s
ΔT Sigma
s
Luna Num Ecl Type QLE Gamma Ecl Mag Lat

°
Long

°
Sun Alt
°
Path Width km Central Dur
1-37 -0756-Mar-1208:50:59 21077 529 -34085 Pb t- -1.5418 0.0045 71S 112W 0 - -
2-36 -0738-Mar-2316:19:17 20783 522 -33862 P t- -1.4836 0.1082 72S 121E 0 - -
3-35 -0720-Apr-0223:43:33 20491 515 -33639 P t- -1.4210 0.2213 72S 6W 0 - -
4-34 -0702-Apr-1407:02:23 20200 509 -33416 P t- -1.3529 0.3463 71S 131W 0 - -
5-33 -0684-Apr-2414:17:39 19912 501 -33193 P t- -1.2807 0.4801 71S 106E 0 - -
6-32 -0666-May-0521:30:28 19626 494 -32970 P t- -1.2053 0.6214 70S 17W 0 - -
7-31 -0648-May-1604:42:39 19342 487 -32747 P t- -1.1281 0.7672 70S 139W 0 - -
8-30 -0630-May-2711:54:44 19060 480 -32524 P t- -1.0499 0.9159 69S 100E 0 - -
9-29 -0612-Jun-0619:07:45 18780 473 -32301 T t- -0.9715 1.0379 55S 24W 13 55902m52s
10-28 -0594-Jun-1802:24:06 18503 466 -32078 T t- -0.8949 1.0440 41S 141W 26 33103m44s
11-27 -0576-Jun-2809:44:33 18228 459 -31855 T p- -0.8208 1.0478 31S 104E 35 27904m18s
12-26 -0558-Jul-0917:09:26 17954 452 -31632 T p- -0.7496 1.0504 25S 11W 41 25204m39s
13-25 -0540-Jul-2000:41:06 17682 445 -31409 T p- -0.6834 1.0520 20S 127W 47 23404m48s
14-24 -0522-Jul-3108:19:45 17414 439 -31186 T p- -0.6225 1.0527 17S 117E 51 22104m49s
15-23 -0504-Aug-1016:07:02 17145 432 -30963 T p- -0.5681 1.0528 15S 2W 55 21004m43s
16-22 -0486-Aug-2200:01:09 16841 425 -30740 T p- -0.5190 1.0522 14S 123W 59 20004m33s
17-21 -0468-Sep-0108:05:16 16529 419 -30517 T p- -0.4777 1.0513 15S 115E 61 19104m21s
18-20 -0450-Sep-1216:17:28 16218 412 -30294 T p- -0.4428 1.0501 17S 10W 64 18404m09s
19-19 -0432-Sep-2300:38:45 15930 405 -30071 T n- -0.4151 1.0489 19S 137W 65 17703m57s
20-18 -0414-Oct-0409:07:33 15641 399 -29848 T n- -0.3936 1.0475 22S 94E 67 17003m47s
21-17 -0396-Oct-1417:44:26 15358 393 -29625 T n- -0.3784 1.0463 26S 36W 68 16503m39s
22-16 -0378-Oct-2602:27:32 15089 386 -29402 T n- -0.3683 1.0453 30S 168W 68 16103m32s
23-15 -0360-Nov-0511:14:53 14820 380 -29179 T n- -0.3616 1.0446 34S 59E 69 15903m28s
24-14 -0342-Nov-1620:06:36 14560 374 -28956 T n- -0.3585 1.0443 38S 73W 69 15803m26s
25-13 -0324-Nov-2704:59:58 14309 367 -28733 T n- -0.3572 1.0445 41S 154E 69 15903m28s
26-12 -0306-Dec-0813:53:57 14058 361 -28510 T n- -0.3561 1.0452 43S 23E 69 16103m31s
27-11 -0288-Dec-1822:45:27 13817 355 -28287 T n- -0.3531 1.0463 44S 108W 69 16503m38s
28-10 -0270-Dec-3007:35:12 13579 349 -28064 T n- -0.3488 1.0479 44S 123E 69 17003m47s
29 -9 -0251-Jan-0916:20:09 13341 343 -27841 T n- -0.3407 1.0499 43S 6W 70 17603m59s
30 -8 -0233-Jan-2100:59:20 13116 337 -27618 T n- -0.3279 1.0522 40S 134W 71 18304m13s
31 -7 -0215-Jan-3109:31:39 12891 331 -27395 T n- -0.3095 1.0548 36S 99E 72 19004m30s
32 -6 -0197-Feb-1117:56:48 12669 325 -27172 T n- -0.2851 1.0574 31S 28W 73 19704m48s
33 -5 -0179-Feb-2202:14:03 12458 320 -26949 T n- -0.2542 1.0602 26S 153W 75 20405m08s
34 -4 -0161-Mar-0510:22:45 12246 314 -26726 T n- -0.2165 1.0627 20S 83E 77 21005m27s
35 -3 -0143-Mar-1518:23:42 12039 308 -26503 T n- -0.1722 1.0650 13S 40W 80 21605m45s
36 -2 -0125-Mar-2702:16:41 11839 303 -26280 T nn -0.1215 1.0669 6S 161W 83 22005m59s
37 -1 -0107-Apr-0610:01:38 11638 297 -26057 Tm nn -0.0641 1.0684 2N 80E 86 22306m10s
38 0 -0089-Apr-1717:40:10 11442 291 -25834 T nn -0.0017 1.0692 9N 38W 90 22506m15s
39 1 -0071-Apr-2801:12:29 11249 286 -25611 T nn 0.0657 1.0694 17N 153W 86 22606m13s
40 2 -0053-May-0908:40:44 11055 281 -25388 T -n 0.1360 1.0686 24N 93E 82 22606m03s
Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 66
Seq Num Rel Num Calendar Date TD of Greatest Eclipse ΔT

s
ΔT Sigma
s
Luna Num Ecl Type QLE Gamma Ecl Mag Lat

°
Long

°
Sun Alt
°
Path Width km Central Dur
41 3 -0035-May-1916:03:30 10868 275 -25165 T -n 0.2104 1.0672 31N 20W 78 22505m46s
42 4 -0017-May-3023:25:10 10682 270 -24942 T -n 0.2854 1.0649 38N 130W 73 22205m23s
43 5 0001-Jun-1006:43:58 10496 265 -24719 T -p 0.3623 1.0617 44N 121E 69 21804m56s
44 6 0019-Jun-2114:04:00 10319 259 -24496 T -p 0.4374 1.0577 50N 14E 64 21204m26s
45 7 0037-Jul-0121:23:07 10142 254 -24273 T -p 0.5126 1.0529 54N 91W 59 20403m54s
46 8 0055-Jul-1304:46:46 9966 249 -24050 T -p 0.5835 1.0475 57N 164E 54 19503m23s
47 9 0073-Jul-2312:12:32 9792 244 -23827 T -p 0.6520 1.0413 59N 60E 49 18202m52s
48 10 0091-Aug-0319:43:49 9618 239 -23604 T -p 0.7152 1.0347 59N 45W 44 16702m21s
49 11 0109-Aug-1403:19:55 9446 234 -23381 T -p 0.7737 1.0276 58N 153W 39 14701m51s
50 12 0127-Aug-2511:03:34 9274 229 -23158 T -p 0.8251 1.0203 57N 96E 34 12101m22s
51 13 0145-Sep-0418:53:30 9102 224 -22935 T -p 0.8707 1.0128 56N 19W 29 8800m52s
52 14 0163-Sep-1602:50:20 8930 219 -22712 H -t 0.9099 1.0053 55N 136W 24 4300m22s
53 15 0181-Sep-2610:54:23 8758 215 -22489 A -t 0.9424 0.9978 55N 104E 19 2300m09s
54 16 0199-Oct-0719:05:51 8586 210 -22266 A -t 0.9681 0.9906 56N 18W 14 13300m40s
55 17 0217-Oct-1803:23:04 8414 205 -22043 A -t 0.9883 0.9834 58N 141W 8 42001m10s
56 18 0235-Oct-2911:46:07 8242 201 -21820 A+ -t 1.0028 0.9784 62N 98E 0 - -
57 19 0253-Nov-0820:13:18 8070 196 -21597 P -t 1.0134 0.9573 62N 38W 0 - -
58 20 0271-Nov-2004:44:06 7898 192 -21374 P -t 1.0202 0.9433 63N 176W 0 - -
59 21 0289-Nov-3013:14:53 7726 187 -21151 P -t 1.0262 0.9310 64N 46E 0 - -
60 22 0307-Dec-1121:46:57 7554 183 -20928 P -t 1.0306 0.9220 65N 92W 0 - -
61 23 0325-Dec-2206:16:03 7380 179 -20705 P -t 1.0363 0.9109 66N 130E 0 - -
62 24 0344-Jan-0214:42:28 7206 174 -20482 P -t 1.0438 0.8970 67N 8W 0 - -
63 25 0362-Jan-1223:01:59 7030 170 -20259 P -t 1.0563 0.8746 68N 145W 0 - -
64 26 0380-Jan-2407:16:30 6852 166 -20036 P -t 1.0721 0.8467 69N 79E 0 - -
65 27 0398-Feb-0315:22:11 6675 162 -19813 P -t 1.0940 0.8080 70N 55W 0 - -
66 28 0416-Feb-1423:18:49 6496 158 -19590 P -t 1.1227 0.7577 71N 172E 0 - -
67 29 0434-Feb-2507:05:22 6316 154 -19367 P -t 1.1586 0.6949 71N 41E 0 - -
68 30 0452-Mar-0714:42:08 6137 150 -19144 P -t 1.2018 0.6195 72N 88W 0 - -
69 31 0470-Mar-1822:08:32 5962 146 -18921 P -t 1.2522 0.5313 72N 146E 0 - -
70 32 0488-Mar-2905:24:16 5786 142 -18698 P -t 1.3101 0.4301 72N 22E 0 - -
71 33 0506-Apr-0912:30:39 5610 138 -18475 P -t 1.3744 0.3176 72N 99W 0 - -
72 34 0524-Apr-1919:27:56 5435 134 -18252 P -t 1.4450 0.1943 71N 142E 0 - -
73 35 0542-May-0102:16:49 5259 131 -18029 Pe -t 1.5210 0.0617 70N 26E 0 - -

Statistics for Solar Eclipses of Saros 66

Solar eclipses of Saros 66 all occur at the Moon’s descending node and the Moon moves northward with each eclipse. The series began with a partial eclipse in the southern hemisphere on -0756 Mar 12. The series ended with a partial eclipse in the northern hemisphere on 0542 May 01. The total duration of Saros series 66 is 1298.17 years.

Summary of Saros 66
First Eclipse -0756 Mar 12
Last Eclipse 0542 May 01
Series Duration 1298.17 Years
No. of Eclipses 73
Sequence 8P 43T 1H 4A 17P

Saros 66 is composed of 73 solar eclipses as follows:

Solar Eclipses of Saros 66
Eclipse Type Symbol Number Percent
All Eclipses - 73100.0%
PartialP 25 34.2%
AnnularA 4 5.5%
TotalT 43 58.9%
HybridH 1 1.4%

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 66 appears in the following table.

Umbral Eclipses of Saros 66
Classification Number Percent
All Umbral Eclipses 48100.0%
Central (two limits) 47 97.9%
Central (one limit) 0 0.0%
Non-Central (one limit) 1 2.1%

The 73 eclipses in Saros 66 occur in the following order : 8P 43T 1H 4A 17P

The longest and shortest central eclipses of Saros 66 as well as largest and smallest partial eclipses appear below.

Extreme Durations and Magnitudes of Solar Eclipses of Saros 66
Extrema Type Date Duration Magnitude
Longest Annular Solar Eclipse 0217 Oct 1801m10s -
Shortest Annular Solar Eclipse 0181 Sep 2600m09s -
Longest Total Solar Eclipse -0089 Apr 1706m15s -
Shortest Total Solar Eclipse 0145 Sep 0400m52s -
Longest Hybrid Solar Eclipse 0163 Sep 1600m22s -
Shortest Hybrid Solar Eclipse 0163 Sep 1600m22s -
Largest Partial Solar Eclipse 0253 Nov 08 - 0.95732
Smallest Partial Solar Eclipse -0756 Mar 12 - 0.00447

Eclipse Publications

by Fred Espenak

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Calendar

The Gregorian calendar (also called the Western calendar) is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named for Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in 1582. On this website, the Gregorian calendar is used for all calendar 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..

Eclipse Predictions

The eclipse predictions presented here were generated using the JPL DE406 solar and lunar ephemerides. The lunar coordinates have been calculated with respect to the Moon's Center of Mass.

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 -2999 to +3000. The uncertainty in ΔT over this period can be estimated from scatter in the measurements.

Acknowledgments

Some of the content on this web site is based on the books Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000 and Thousand Year Canon of Solar Eclipses 1501 to 2500. All eclipse calculations are by Fred Espenak, and he assumes full responsibility for their accuracy.

Permission is granted to reproduce eclipse data when accompanied by a link to this page and an acknowledgment:

"Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, www.EclipseWise.com"

The use of diagrams and maps is permitted provided that they are NOT altered (except for re-sizing) and the embedded credit line is NOT removed or covered.