An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Tuesday, January 15 and Wednesday, January 16, 1991, with a magnitude of 0.929. 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 3.5 days after apogee (on January 12, 1991, at 11:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.

Annularity was visible in southwestern Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and French Polynesia. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Indonesia, Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica.

Images

Eclipse timing Places experiencing annular eclipse Solar Eclipse of January 15, 1991(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseStart of annular eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of annular eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of annularity (min:s)Duration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Perth 05:25:57 (sunrise) 05:57:27 06:00:18 06:03:07 07:10:48 5:40 1:45 84.04% Mandurah 05:25:11 (sunrise) 05:57:57 06:00:48 06:03:39 07:11:17 5:42 1:46 84.05% Bunbury 05:23:33 (sunrise) 05:59:21 06:01:33 06:03:43 07:12:01 4:22 1:48 84.07% Esperance 04:57:22 (sunrise) 05:59:10 06:01:55 06:04:40 07:16:14 5:30 2:19 84.30% Currie 08:01:37 09:16:40 09:19:34 09:22:29 10:49:46 5:49 2:48 85.25% Launceston 08:04:33 09:21:13 09:24:35 09:27:58 10:56:41 6:45 2:52 85.39% Greymouth 10:28:07 12:01:38 12:04:59 12:08:21 13:48:22 6:43 3:20 86.15% Richmond 10:30:25 12:05:38 12:09:27 12:13:16 13:54:02 7:38 3:24 86.21% Nelson 10:30:32 12:05:54 12:09:41 12:13:29 13:54:20 7:35 3:24 86.21% Blenheim 10:31:45 12:07:14 12:11:06 12:14:57 13:55:27 7:43 3:24 86.22% Wellington 10:32:59 12:09:07 12:13:00 12:16:52 13:57:30 7:45 3:25 86.24% Paraparaumu 10:33:12 12:09:54 12:13:40 12:17:27 13:58:32 7:33 3:25 86.25% Palmerston North 10:34:00 12:12:09 12:15:19 12:18:29 14:00:39 6:20 3:27 86.27%References:

Places experiencing partial eclipse Solar Eclipse of January 15, 1991(Local Times)Country or territory City or placeStart of partial eclipseMaximum eclipseEnd of partial eclipseDuration of eclipse (hr:min)Maximum coverage Dili 05:30:10 (sunrise) 05:47:37 06:37:19 1:07 13.71% Darwin 06:32:48 (sunrise) 07:19:51 08:17:26 1:45 18.18% Port Moresby 07:31:52 08:04:56 08:41:20 1:09 2.09% Adelaide 07:25:43 08:39:46 10:06:19 2:41 76.93% Denpasar 06:11:28 (sunrise) 06:13:51 06:41:12 0:30 14.30% Melbourne 07:59:55 09:18:34 10:50:17 2:50 81.45% Canberra 08:00:06 09:21:18 10:56:52 2:57 71.09% Brisbane 08:02:12 09:22:02 10:57:44 2:56 43.46% Sydney 08:00:48 09:23:11 11:00:31 3:00 65.33% Honiara 09:26:36 09:39:36 09:53:03 0:26 0.05% Casey Station 06:00:01 06:43:01 07:27:35 1:28 12.31% Nouméa 08:29:44 09:58:12 11:38:40 3:09 25.91% Kingston 08:52:48 10:30:07 12:18:46 3:26 47.38% Port Vila 09:47:28 11:09:21 12:39:32 2:52 14.64% Auckland 10:31:55 12:15:20 14:03:31 3:32 77.31% Suva 10:12:24 11:53:21 13:28:59 3:17 23.71% Nuku'alofa 11:18:35 13:09:47 14:49:16 3:31 40.81% Funafuti 11:10:55 12:19:10 13:21:34 2:11 5.16% Mata Utu 10:47:53 12:25:06 13:50:10 3:02 20.01% Alofi 11:39:01 13:30:00 15:04:49 3:26 44.79% Apia 11:54:50 13:37:22 15:04:35 3:10 28.57% Pago Pago 11:55:14 13:39:13 15:07:16 3:12 31.54% Rarotonga 13:28:02 15:17:10 16:48:17 3:20 70.85% Fakaofo 12:17:24 13:49:21 15:07:22 2:50 19.82% Papeete 13:30:49 15:09:57 16:32:17 3:01 82.36% Clipperton Island 16:47:36 17:11:35 17:13:56 (sunset) 0:26 21.57% Adamstown 15:24:59 16:41:41 17:48:33 2:24 49.59% Easter Island 19:20:12 20:12:58 21:01:23 1:41 21.97% Kiritimati 14:19:46 15:34:31 16:38:30 2:19 21.01%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.

+January 15, 1991 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1991 January 15 at 20:51:57.9 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1991 January 15 at 21:57:45.6 UTC First Central Line 1991 January 15 at 22:00:52.7 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1991 January 15 at 22:04:00.1 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1991 January 15 at 23:15:21.5 UTC Greatest Duration 1991 January 15 at 23:40:06.1 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1991 January 15 at 23:44:29.4 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1991 January 15 at 23:50:36.9 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1991 January 15 at 23:53:51.3 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1991 January 16 at 00:32:36.2 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1991 January 16 at 01:43:50.2 UTC Last Central Line 1991 January 16 at 01:46:55.5 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1991 January 16 at 01:50:00.3 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1991 January 16 at 02:55:44.0 UTC

+January 15, 1991 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.92901 Eclipse Obscuration 0.86306 Gamma −0.27275 Sun Right Ascension 19h49m11.2s Sun Declination -21°04'21.2" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'15.5" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.9" Moon Right Ascension 19h49m29.1s Moon Declination -21°18'36.9" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'53.1" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°54'37.7" ΔT 57.6 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 January 1991 January 15Ascending node (new moon) January 30Descending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 131 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 143

Related eclipses Eclipses in 1991 An annular solar eclipse on January 15. A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 30. A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 27. A total solar eclipse on July 11. A penumbral lunar eclipse on July 26. A partial lunar eclipse on December 21.

Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 1994

Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998

Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of January 9, 1982 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of January 21, 2000

Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 2001

Solar Saros 131 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 26, 2009

Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 1962 Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019

Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 17, 1904 Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 15, 2077

Solar eclipses of 1990–1992

Saros 131

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

Notes

References

External links