A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, April 7, 1978, with a magnitude of 0.7883. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Antarctica, southern South America, and Southern Africa.
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 7, 1978 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1978 April 7 at 13:02:42.8 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1978 April 7 at 14:26:21.8 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1978 April 7 at 15:03:46.6 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1978 April 7 at 15:15:57.9 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1978 April 7 at 17:05:13.3 UTC
+April 7, 1978 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.78828 Eclipse Obscuration 0.72528 Gamma −1.10812 Sun Right Ascension 01h04m17.8s Sun Declination +06°50'43.3" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'58.5" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 01h05m31.3s Moon Declination +05°50'22.8" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'32.4" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'02.1" ΔT 48.8 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 March–April 1978 March 24Ascending node (full moon) April 7Descending node (new moon) Total lunar eclipseLunar Saros 122 Partial solar eclipseSolar Saros 148
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1978 A total lunar eclipse on March 24. A partial solar eclipse on April 7. A total lunar eclipse on September 16. A partial solar eclipse on October 2.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 20, 1974 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 25, 1982
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971 Followed by: Solar eclipse of May 19, 1985
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 2, 1969 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 14, 1987
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 9, 1967 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1989
Solar Saros 148 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 27, 1960 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 17, 1996
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 28, 1949 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 19, 2007
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 6, 1891 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 2065
Solar eclipses of 1975–1978
Saros 148
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
References
External links