An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit between Monday, August 31 and Tuesday, September 1, 1970, with a magnitude of 0.94. 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 20 hours after apogee (on August 31, 1970, at 2:00 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible from the Territory of Papua and New Guinea (today's Papua New Guinea), Gilbert and Ellice Islands (the part that belongs to Tuvalu now) on September 1 (Tuesday), West Samoa (name changed to Samoa later) and the whole American Samoa except Swains Island on August 31 (Monday). A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Eastern Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica.
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.
+August 31, 1970 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1970 August 31 at 19:00:38.3 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1970 August 31 at 20:12:19.4 UTC First Central Line 1970 August 31 at 20:15:18.7 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1970 August 31 at 20:18:19.6 UTC Greatest Duration 1970 August 31 at 21:42:42.2 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1970 August 31 at 21:55:29.9 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1970 August 31 at 22:01:53.6 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1970 August 31 at 22:28:51.4 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1970 August 31 at 23:32:19.4 UTC Last Central Line 1970 August 31 at 23:35:20.4 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1970 August 31 at 23:38:19.7 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1970 September 1 at 00:50:07.5 UTC
+August 31, 1970 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.93997 Eclipse Obscuration 0.88354 Gamma −0.53640 Sun Right Ascension 10h38m53.2s Sun Declination +08°32'52.7" Sun Semi-Diameter 15'50.8" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.7" Moon Right Ascension 10h37m59.0s Moon Declination +08°07'17.6" Moon Semi-Diameter 14'42.6" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°53'59.0" ΔT 40.8 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 August 1970 August 17Ascending node (full moon) August 31Descending node (new moon) Partial lunar eclipseLunar Saros 118 Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 144
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1970 A partial lunar eclipse on February 21. A total solar eclipse on March 7. A partial lunar eclipse on August 17. An annular solar eclipse on August 31.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 12, 1966 Followed by: Solar eclipse of June 20, 1974
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of July 20, 1963 Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 12, 1977
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of August 26, 1961 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of September 6, 1979
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 2, 1959 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 31, 1981
Solar Saros 144 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 20, 1952 Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 11, 1988
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of September 21, 1941 Followed by: Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 30, 1883 Followed by: Solar eclipse of July 1, 2057
Solar eclipses of 1968–1971
Saros 144
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References