An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, March 18, 1969, with a magnitude of 0.9954. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 5.1 days after perigee (on March 13, 1969, at 2:50 UTC) and 7.7 days before apogee (on March 25, 1969, at 19:30 UTC).
Annularity was visible from part of Indonesia, and two atolls (Faraulep and Gaferut) in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands which belongs to the Federated States of Micronesia now. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar), Antarctica, Australia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and northern Oceania.
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 18, 1969 Solar Eclipse Times Event Time (UTC) First Penumbral External Contact 1969 March 18 at 02:07:06.0 UTC First Umbral External Contact 1969 March 18 at 03:08:38.9 UTC First Central Line 1969 March 18 at 03:09:16.7 UTC Greatest Duration 1969 March 18 at 03:09:16.7 UTC First Umbral Internal Contact 1969 March 18 at 03:09:54.5 UTC First Penumbral Internal Contact 1969 March 18 at 04:16:02.5 UTC Equatorial Conjunction 1969 March 18 at 04:38:24.3 UTC Ecliptic Conjunction 1969 March 18 at 04:51:59.7 UTC Greatest Eclipse 1969 March 18 at 04:54:57.2 UTC Last Penumbral Internal Contact 1969 March 18 at 05:34:13.5 UTC Last Umbral Internal Contact 1969 March 18 at 06:40:08.1 UTC Last Central Line 1969 March 18 at 06:40:48.6 UTC Last Umbral External Contact 1969 March 18 at 06:41:29.2 UTC Last Penumbral External Contact 1969 March 18 at 07:43:01.1 UTC
+March 18, 1969 Solar Eclipse Parameters Parameter Value Eclipse Magnitude 0.99545 Eclipse Obscuration 0.99092 Gamma −0.27037 Sun Right Ascension 23h50m32.4s Sun Declination -01°01'31.8" Sun Semi-Diameter 16'04.0" Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8" Moon Right Ascension 23h51m02.7s Moon Declination -01°15'08.8" Moon Semi-Diameter 15'44.8" Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°57'47.6" ΔT 39.4 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–April 1969 March 18Ascending node (new moon) April 2Descending node (full moon) Annular solar eclipseSolar Saros 129 Penumbral lunar eclipseLunar Saros 141
Related eclipses Eclipses in 1969 An annular solar eclipse on March 18. A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 2. A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 27. An annular solar eclipse on September 11. A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 25.
Metonic Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1965 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973
Tzolkinex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 1962 Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1976
Half-Saros Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1960 Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1978
Tritos Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 19, 1958 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980
Solar Saros 129 Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1951 Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987
Inex Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 7, 1940 Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998
Triad Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 17, 1882 Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 16, 2056
Solar eclipses of 1968–1971
Saros 129
Metonic series
Tritos series
Inex series
Notes
References