Solar eclipse of April 7, 1978

20th-century partial solar eclipse

71°54′S 23°18′E / 71.9°S 23.3°E / -71.9; 23.3Times (UTC)Greatest eclipse15:03:47ReferencesSaros148 (19 of 75)Catalog # (SE5000)9460

A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on Friday, April 7, 1978. 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 partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1978

A total lunar eclipse on Friday, 24 March 1978.
A partial solar eclipse on Friday, 7 April 1978.
A total lunar eclipse on Saturday, 16 September 1978.
A partial solar eclipse on Monday, 2 October 1978.

Solar eclipses of 1975–1978

There were 8 solar eclipses (at 6 month intervals) between May 11, 1975 and October 2, 1978.

Solar eclipse series sets from 1975 to 1978
Descending node			Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma	Saros	Map	Gamma
118	1975 May 11 Partial	1.06472	123	1975 November 3 Partial	−1.02475
128	1976 April 29 Annular	0.33783	133	1976 October 23 Total	−0.32699
138	1977 April 18 Annular	−0.39903	143	1977 October 12 Total	0.38363
148	1978 April 7 Partial	−1.10812	153	1978 October 2 Partial	1.16164

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).

22 eclipse events, progressing from north to south between April 8, 1902, and August 31, 1989:
April 7–8	January 24–25	November 12	August 31-September 1	June 19–20
108			114	116
April 8, 1902			August 31, 1913	June 19, 1917
118	120	122	124	126
April 8, 1921	January 24, 1925	November 12, 1928	August 31, 1932	June 19, 1936
128	130	132	134	136
April 7, 1940	January 25, 1944	November 12, 1947	September 1, 1951	June 20, 1955
138	140	142	144	146
April 8, 1959	January 25, 1963	November 12, 1966	August 31, 1970	June 20, 1974
148	150	152	154
April 7, 1978	January 25, 1982	November 12, 1985	August 31, 1989

References

External links

Earth visibility chart and eclipse statistics Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
- Google interactive map
- Besselian elements

Solar eclipses

Lists of eclipses

By era	Antiquity Middle Ages Modern era 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd Future
Saros series (list)	110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162
Visibility	Australia British Isles China Israel Philippines Russia Turkey Ukraine United States
Historical	Mursili's eclipse (1312 BC) Assyrian eclipse (763 BC) Eclipse of Thales (585 BC) Muhammad's eclipse (632 AD)