An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Thursday, April 29, 1976, with a magnitude of 0.9421. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. Occurring about 1.9 days after apogee (on April 27, 1976, at 13:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from North Africa, Greece, Turkey, Middle East, central Asia, India, China. 5 of the 14 eight-thousanders in Pakistan and China—Nanga Parbat, K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I, lie in the path of annularity. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the Canadian Maritimes, North Africa, Central Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia.
Note that the central line of this annular solar eclipse followed a path extremely similar to that of the total eclipse that will occur 112 years later on April 21, 2088.
Observation The Institute of Physics and Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Xinjiang Earthquake Team conducted observations of gravitational effects using gravimeters, inclinometers, pendulum clocks and seismometers in southwestern Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang near the Karakoram Pass at an altitude of . Results showed that the gravitational acceleration had no obvious effect within the accuracy of the instruments. No inclination was recorded on the photosensitive paper of the inclinometer due to the width of its lines. Three inclinations were pen-recorded, whose time and direction were clearly related to that of the eclipse. Due to the difficult conditions with the high altitude, the observation team was unable to obtain more comparative data.
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.
+April 29, 1976 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1976 April 29 at 07:23:05.3 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1976 April 29 at 08:30:13.1 UTC First Central Line 1976 April 29 at 08:32:52.8 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1976 April 29 at 08:35:32.9 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1976 April 29 at 09:52:32.8 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1976 April 29 at 10:20:15.6 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1976 April 29 at 10:24:17.7 UTC Greatest Duration 1976 April 29 at 10:30:53.5 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1976 April 29 at 10:33:23.0 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1976 April 29 at 10:55:47.8 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1976 April 29 at 12:12:56.6 UTC Last Central Line 1976 April 29 at 12:15:35.7 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1976 April 29 at 12:18:14.3 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1976 April 29 at 13:25:23.3 UTC
+April 29, 1976 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.94208 Eclipse Obscuration 0.88752 Gamma 0.33783 Sun Right Ascension 02h27m19.6s Sun Declination +14°34'10.4" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'52.7" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 02h27m02.8s Moon Declination +14°51'57.3" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'44.9" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'07.6" ΔT 46.8 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 April–May 1976 April 29Descending node (new moon) May 13Ascending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 128 Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 140
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1976 An annular solar eclipse on April 29. A partial lunar eclipse on May 13. A total solar eclipse on October 23. A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 6.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 10, 1972 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 18, 1969 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 11, 1983
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 1967 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of May 4, 1985
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1965 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987
Solar Saros 128 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 19, 1958 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 10, 1994
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 20, 1947 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 28, 1889 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 28, 2063
Solar eclipses of 1975–1978
Saros 128
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References
Solar eclipse of April 29, 1976 in Russia