Solar eclipse of June 30, 1973

Solar eclipse of June 30, 1973
	Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	-0.0785
Magnitude	1.0792
Maximum eclipse
Duration	424 sec (7 m 4 s)
Coordinates	Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Max. width of band	256 km (159 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	11:38:41
References
Saros	136 (35 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9450

A total solar eclipse occurred on June 30, 1973. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. With a maximum eclipse of 7 minutes and 4 seconds, this was the last total solar eclipse that exceeds 7 minutes in this series. There will not be a longer total solar eclipse until June 25, 2150.

Observations

This eclipse was observed by a group of scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory using two airplanes to extend the apparent time of totality by flying along the eclipse path in the same direction as the Moon's shadow as it passed over Africa. One of the planes was a prototype of what later became the Concorde, which has a top speed of almost 1,300 miles per hour (2,100 km/h). This enabled the scientists to experience a period of totality that lasted more than 74 minutes, nearly 10 times longer than is possible when viewing a total solar eclipse from a stationary location.^[1]

The eclipse was also observed by a charter flight from Mount San Antonio College in Southern California. The DC-8 with 150 passengers intercepted the eclipse at 35,000 feet (11,000 m) just off the east coast of Africa and tracked the eclipse for three minutes. The passengers rotated seats every 20 seconds so that each passenger had three 20 second opportunities at the window to observe and take pictures.

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1971-1974

Each member in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternating nodes of the Moon's orbit.

Note: Partial solar eclipses on February 25, 1971 and August 20, 1971 occur in the next lunar year set.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1971-1974
Saros	Map	Saros	Map
Descending node		Ascending node
116	July 22, 1971 Partial	121	January 16, 1972 Annular
126	July 10, 1972 Total	131	January 4, 1973 Annular
136	June 30, 1973 Total	141	December 24, 1973 Annular
146	June 20, 1974 Total	151	December 13, 1974 Partial

Saros 136

Solar Saros 136, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, contains 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on Jun 14, 1360, and reached a first annular eclipse on September 8, 1504. It was a hybrid event from November 22, 1612, through January 17, 1703, and total eclipses from January 27, 1721 through May 13, 2496. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 30, 2622, with the entire series lasting 1262 years. The longest eclipse occurred on June 20, 1955, with a maximum duration of totality at 7 minutes, 8 seconds.^[2]

Series members 29–43 occur between 1865 and 2117:

29	30	31
April 25, 1865	May 6, 1883	May 18, 1901
32	33	34
May 29, 1919	Jun 8, 1937	Jun 20, 1955
35	36	37
Jun 30, 1973	Jul 11, 1991	Jul 22, 2009
38	39	40
Aug 2, 2027	Aug 12, 2045	Aug. 24, 2063
41	42	43
Sep. 3, 2081	Sep. 14, 2099	Sep. 26, 2117

Metonic series

The metonic series repeats eclipses every 19 years (6939.69 days), lasting about 5 cycles. Eclipses occur in nearly the same calendar date. In addition the octon subseries repeats 1/5 of that or every 3.8 years (1387.94 days).

This series has 22 eclipse events between September 12, 1931 and July 1, 2011.

September 11-12	June 30-July 1	April 18-19	February 4-5	November 22-23
114	116	118	120	122
September 12, 1931	June 30, 1935	April 19, 1939	February 4, 1943	November 23, 1946
124	126	128	130	132
September 12, 1950	June 30, 1954	April 19, 1958	February 5, 1962	150px November 23, 1965
134	136	138	140	142
September 11, 1969	June 30, 1973	April 18, 1977	February 4, 1981	November 22, 1984
144	146	148	150	152
September 11, 1988	June 30, 1992	April 17, 1996	February 5, 2000	November 23, 2003
154	156
September 11, 2007	July 1, 2011