A total solar eclipse occurred on November 22, 1984. 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. Totality was visible in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and southern Pacific Ocean. West of the International Date Line the eclipse took place on November 23, including all land in the path of totality. Occurring only 2.1 days after perigee (Perigee on November 20, 1984), the Moon's apparent diameter was fairly larger.
| Solar eclipse of November 22, 1984 | |
|---|---|
 Partial from Gisborne, New Zealand | |
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Total |
| Gamma | −0.3132 |
| Magnitude | 1.0237 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 120 s (2 min 0 s) |
| Coordinates | 37°48′S 173°36′W / 37.8°S 173.6°W |
| Max. width of band | 85 km (53 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 22:54:17 |
| References | |
| Saros | 142 (21 of 72) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9475 |
Observations edit
Jay Pasachoff led an observation team from Williams College in Massachusetts to Papua New Guinea, taking images of the process of the eclipse and the corona, as well as the Baily's beads and the illuminance of the corona. Besides the observations, the team members also went to places near the Sepik River in northern Papua New Guinea[1].
Related eclipses edit
Eclipses of 1984 edit
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on May 15.
- An annular solar eclipse on May 30.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on June 13.
- A penumbral lunar eclipse on November 8.
- A total solar eclipse on November 22.
Solar eclipses of 1982–1985 edit
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.[2]
Note: Partial solar eclipses on January 25, 1982 and July 20, 1982 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1982 to 1985 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 117 |  1982 June 21 Partial |
−1.21017 | 122 |  1982 December 15 Partial |
1.12928 | |
| 127 |  1983 June 11 Total |
−0.49475 | 132 |  1983 December 4 Annular |
0.40150 | |
| 137 |  1984 May 30 Annular |
0.27552 | 142 Partial from Gisborne, NZ |
1984 November 22 Total |
−0.31318 | |
| 147 |  1985 May 19 Partial |
1.07197 | 152 |  1985 November 12 Total |
−0.97948 | |
Saros 142 edit
It is a part of Saros cycle 142, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 72 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on April 17, 1624. It contains one hybrid eclipse on July 14, 1768, and total eclipses from July 25, 1786 through October 29, 2543. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on June 5, 2904. The longest duration of totality will be 6 minutes, 34 seconds on May 28, 2291. All eclipses in this series occurs at the Moon’s descending node.[3]
| Series members 17–41 occur between 1901 and 2359 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 17 | 18 | 19 |
 October 10, 1912 |
 October 21, 1930 |
 November 1, 1948 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 |
 November 12, 1966 |
November 22, 1984 |
 December 4, 2002 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 |
 December 14, 2020 |
 December 26, 2038 |
 January 5, 2057 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 |
 January 16, 2075 |
 January 27, 2093 |
 February 8, 2111 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 |
 February 18, 2129 |
 March 2, 2147 |
 March 12, 2165 |
| 32 | 33 | 34 |
 March 23, 2183 |
 April 4, 2201 |
 April 15, 2219 |
| 35 | 36 | 37 |
 April 25, 2237 |
 May 7, 2255 |
 May 17, 2273 |
| 38 | 39 | 40 |
 May 28, 2291 |
 June 9, 2309 |
 June 20, 2327 |
| 41 | ||
 June 30, 2345 | ||
Inex series edit
This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.
| Inex series members between 1901 and 2100: | ||
|---|---|---|
 January 3, 1927 (Saros 140) |
 December 14, 1955 (Saros 141) |
November 22, 1984 (Saros 142) |
 November 3, 2013 (Saros 143) |
 October 14, 2042 (Saros 144) |
 September 23, 2071 (Saros 145) |
 September 4, 2100 (Saros 146) |
||
Metonic series edit
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.
| 22 eclipse events between September 12, 1931 and July 1, 2011. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 11-12 | June 30-July 1 | April 17-19 | 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 |
 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 | |||
Notes edit
- ^ "1984, Papua New Guinea". Williams College. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020.
- ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
- ^ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsaros/SEsaros142.html
References edit
- Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
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