Solar eclipse of February 15, 1961

A total solar eclipse occurred on February 15, 1961. Totality was visible from France, Monaco, Italy, San Marino, SFR Yugoslavia (parts now belonging to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo, North Macedonia), Albania, Bulgaria including the capital city Sofia, Romania including the capital city Bucharest, and the Soviet Union (parts now belonging to Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan). The maximum eclipse was recorded near Novocherkassk (Russian SFSR).

Solar eclipse of February 15, 1961
Totality of eclipse
Map
Type of eclipse
Nature	Total
Gamma	0.883
Magnitude	1.036
Maximum eclipse
Duration	165 s (2 min 45 s)
Coordinates	47.4°N 40°E / 47.4; 40
Max. width of band	258 km (160 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse	8:19:48
References
Saros	120 (58 of 71)
Catalog # (SE5000)	9422

This was the 51st of 55 umbral eclipses in Solar Saros 120.

Upcoming 4 umbral eclipses

52. 1979 February 26

53. 1997 March 9

54. 2015 March 20

55. 2033 March 30

In popular culture

The scene for the film Barabbas (1961) in which the eclipse was used to recreate the crucifixion darkness

The crucifixion scene in the 1961 film Barabbas was shot during this eclipse.

Related eclipses

Solar eclipses of 1961–1964

This eclipse is a member of a semester series. An eclipse 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.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1961 to 1964
Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
120	1961 February 15 Total	0.88302		125	1961 August 11 Annular	-0.88594
130	1962 February 05 Total	0.21066		135	1962 July 31 Annular	-0.11296
140	1963 January 25 Annular	-0.48984		145	1963 July 20 Total	0.65710
150	1964 January 14 Partial	-1.23541		155	1964 July 09 Partial	1.36228
Partial solar eclipses of June 10, 1964 and December 4, 1964 belong in the next lunar year set.

Saros 120

This eclipse is a part of Saros cycle 120, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on May 27, 933 AD, and reached an annular eclipse on August 11, 1059. It was a hybrid event for 3 dates: May 8, 1510, through May 29, 1546, and total eclipses from June 8, 1564, through March 30, 2033. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 7, 2195. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes, 50 seconds on March 9, 1997. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.

Series members 55–65 occur between 1901 and 2100
55	56	57
January 14, 1907	January 24, 1925	February 4, 1943
58	59	60
February 15, 1961	February 26, 1979	March 9, 1997
61	62	63
March 20, 2015	March 30, 2033	April 11, 2051
64	65
April 21, 2069	May 2, 2087

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). All eclipses in this table occur at the Moon's descending node.

21 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between July 11, 1953 and July 11, 2029
July 10–12	April 29–30	February 15–16	December 4–5	September 21–23
116	118	120	122	124
July 11, 1953	April 30, 1957	February 15, 1961	December 4, 1964	September 22, 1968
126	128	130	132	134
July 10, 1972	April 29, 1976	February 16, 1980	December 4, 1983	September 23, 1987
136	138	140	142	144
July 11, 1991	April 29, 1995	February 16, 1999	December 4, 2002	September 22, 2006
146	148	150	152	154
July 11, 2010	April 29, 2014	February 15, 2018	December 4, 2021	September 21, 2025
156	158	160	162	164
July 11, 2029

See also

• List of solar eclipses visible from Russia
• List of solar eclipses visible from Ukraine

References

• Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
  • Google interactive map
  • Besselian elements
• Solar eclipse of February 15, 1961 in Russia Archived December 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine