Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9, 1997, with a magnitude of 1.042. 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. Occurring about 18.5 hours after perigee (on March 8, 1997, at 9:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Totality was visible in eastern Russia, northern Mongolia, the northern tip of Xinjiang and Northeastern China and the eastern tip of Kazakhstan. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Southeast Asia, East Asia, Alaska, and western Canada.

Unusual gravity variations This solar eclipse is somewhat special in the sense that some unexplained gravity anomalies of about 7 10−8 m/s2 during the solar eclipse were observed. Attempts (e.g., Van Flandern–Yang hypothesis) to explain these anomalies have not been able to reach a definite conclusion.

Observations

Russia Russian Academy of Sciences sent an observation team near Lake Baikal to study multiple aspects of the solar corona, providing complement to the imperfections of the corona observation of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft.

China In China, only a partial eclipse was visible from most areas. The path of totality covered only two narrow areas not adjacent to each other. In Northwestern China, it covered the northern part of Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang. In Northeast China, it covered the northern part of Hulunbuir League (now the city of Hulumbuir), Inner Mongolia and the northern part of neighbouring Daxing'anling Prefecture, Heilongjiang. Therefore, observations of the total eclipse in China are concentrated in these two areas.

In Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, the total phase occurred right after sunrise. By observing the change in the brightness in Altay, the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project concluded that the phrase of "day dawned twice in Zheng" in the ancient chronicle Bamboo Annals referred to a solar eclipse on April 21, 899 BC which also occurred right after sunrise, thus determining the year of the Battle of Muye and the starting year of the Zhou dynasty. However, doubts also exist on this conclusion. For example, Douglas J. Keenan published on the journal East Asian History, stating that calculations show that the eclipse in 899 BC reduced the brightness perceived subjectively by a human observer by less than 25%, and clouds can even cause the same effect very often, thus questioning the conclusion.

Mohe County (now Mohe City), Heilongjiang, the northernmost county in China, was considered the best observation site in China due to the high solar zenith angle and the long duration of totality. Within the county, the longest duration occurred in Mohe Township (now Beiji Township), the northernmost township in China. Comet Hale–Bopp also appeared during totality, which also attracted many Chinese to travel to this northernmost town. In addition, the first amateur radio communication experiment during a total solar eclipse in mainland China, and China Central Television's first live broadcast of a solar eclipse were also completed there.

Eclipse timing Places experiencing total eclipse Solar Eclipse of March 9, 1997(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseStart of total eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of total eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of totality (min:s)Duration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum magnitude Khovd 07:19:25 (sunrise) 07:41:20 07:41:49 07:42:20 08:42:41 1:00 1:23 1.0026 Erdenet 07:47:51 08:47:12 08:48:20 08:49:28 09:53:35 2:16 2:06 1.0137 Darkhan 07:49:04 08:49:00 08:50:12 08:51:24 09:56:05 2:24 2:07 1.017 Chita 08:56:09 09:58:35 09:59:42 10:00:50 11:07:43 2:15 2:12 1.0105 Mohe 08:02:38 09:07:48 09:08:59 09:10:09 10:19:21 2:21 2:17 1.01 Neryungri 09:10:27 10:15:48 10:16:38 10:17:29 11:26:07 1:41 2:16 1.0047 Khandyga 09:27:35 10:33:37 10:34:07 10:34:37 11:42:19 1:00 2:15 1.0018 Oymyakon 11:34:07 12:40:03 12:41:18 12:42:33 13:49:27 2:30 2:15 1.0126 Ust-Nera 11:35:49 12:41:10 12:42:31 12:43:53 13:50:06 2:43 2:14 1.02 Belaya Gora 11:42:18 12:46:42 12:47:22 12:48:01 13:52:52 1:19 2:11 1.0031References:

Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of March 9, 1997(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Bangkok 06:29:44 (sunrise) 06:57:06 07:37:54 1:08 16.04% Yangon 06:18:04 (sunrise) 06:29:35 07:13:57 0:56 23.40% Vientiane 06:22:40 (sunrise) 07:01:48 07:50:43 1:28 27.37% Hanoi 06:16:48 07:06:25 08:00:47 1:44 35.97% Manila 07:23:30 08:08:31 08:57:28 1:34 16.37% Macau 07:18:37 08:12:11 09:11:16 1:53 38.36% Hong Kong 07:18:54 08:12:48 09:12:16 1:53 38.53% Dhaka 06:13:24 (sunrise) 06:15:45 06:57:07 0:44 38.56% Thimphu 06:17:49 (sunrise) 06:20:55 07:04:20 0:47 47.68% Taipei 07:24:09 08:23:08 09:28:22 2:04 43.39% Kolkata 05:51:13 (sunrise) 05:53:34 06:23:59 0:33 27.78% Shanghai 07:29:17 08:32:32 09:42:20 2:13 59.51% Kathmandu 06:20:11 (sunrise) 06:22:46 06:48:16 0:28 27.20% Beijing 07:37:25 08:41:35 09:51:49 2:14 82.43% Ulaanbaatar 07:46:38 08:48:03 09:54:26 2:08 99.77% Seoul 08:41:25 09:49:11 11:03:00 2:22 71.26% Pyongyang 08:42:23 09:50:02 11:03:40 2:21 75.38% Irkutsk 07:53:35 08:54:11 09:59:08 2:06 99.07% Tokyo 08:54:14 10:04:52 11:20:00 2:26 55.19% Magadan 11:37:02 12:46:37 13:56:31 2:19 91.72% Srednekolymsk 11:46:38 12:52:34 13:58:28 2:12 99.82% Anadyr 13:06:00 14:11:32 15:15:17 2:09 81.10% Point Hope 16:16:25 17:18:26 18:18:30 2:02 80.01% Point Lay 16:17:28 17:18:39 18:17:58 2:01 81.43% Wainwright 16:18:13 17:18:48 18:17:36 1:59 82.20% Utqiagvik 16:19:09 17:19:10 18:17:25 1:58 82.45% Atqasuk 16:19:45 17:19:57 18:18:17 1:59 80.88% Inuvik 18:32:28 19:22:47 19:28:45 (sunset) 0:56 66.82% Fairbanks 16:32:23 17:30:07 18:25:29 1:53 63.39% Anchorage 16:36:42 17:33:45 18:28:10 1:51 54.27%References:

Eclipse details Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the Moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

+March 9, 1997 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1997 March 8 at 23:17:38.3 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1997 March 9 at 00:42:04.9 UTC First Central Line 1997 March 9 at 00:44:28.2 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1997 March 9 at 00:46:59.1 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1997 March 9 at 01:15:36.8 UTC Greatest Duration 1997 March 9 at 01:24:17.2 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1997 March 9 at 01:24:50.6 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1997 March 9 at 01:54:40.0 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1997 March 9 at 02:02:20.9 UTC Last Central Line 1997 March 9 at 02:04:51.3 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1997 March 9 at 02:07:14.0 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1997 March 9 at 03:31:50.3 UTC

+March 9, 1997 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 1.04202 Eclipse Obscuration 1.08580 Gamma 0.91830 Sun Right Ascension 23h17m46.1s Sun Declination -04°32'29.2" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'06.5" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 23h16m38.7s Moon Declination -03°38'59.4" Moon Semi-Diameter 16'40.8" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 1°01'12.9" ΔT 62.4 s

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a fortnight.

+ Eclipse season of March 1997 March 9Descending node (new moon) March 24Ascending node (full moon) Total solar eclipseSolar Saros 120 Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 132

Related eclipses Eclipses in 1997 A total solar eclipse on March 9. A partial lunar eclipse on March 24. A partial solar eclipse on September 2. A total lunar eclipse on September 16.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 21, 1993 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 25, 2000

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 1990 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 19, 2004

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 3, 1988 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 14, 2006

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 9, 1986 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 7, 2008

Solar Saros 120 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1979 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 20, 2015

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 28, 1968 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 17, 2026

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 1910 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 7, 2084

Solar eclipses of 1997–2000

Saros 120

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Solar eclipse of March 9, 1997

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