Solar eclipse of February 16, 1999

39°48′S 93°54′E / 39.8°S 93.9°E / -39.8; 93.9Max. width of band29 km (18 mi)Times (UTC)Greatest eclipse6:34:38ReferencesSaros140 (28 of 71)Catalog # (SE5000)9505

An annular solar eclipse occurred on February 16, 1999. 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. Annularity was visible in the southern Indian Ocean including the Prince Edward Islands, South Africa (the northern part of Marion Island and the whole Prince Edward Island), and Australia.

Images

Related eclipses

Eclipses of 1999

• A penumbral lunar eclipse on January 31.
• An annular solar eclipse on February 16.
• A partial lunar eclipse on July 28.
• A total solar eclipse on August 11.

Solar eclipses 1997–2000

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.^[1]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1997 to 2000

Descending node				Ascending node
Saros	Map	Gamma		Saros	Map	Gamma
120 Chita, Russia	1997 March 09 Total	0.91830		125	1997 September 02 Partial (south)	−1.03521
130 Total eclipse near Guadeloupe	1998 February 26 Total	0.23909		135	1998 August 22 Annular	−0.26441
140	1999 February 16 Annular	−0.47260		145 Totality from France	1999 August 11 Total	0.50623
150	2000 February 05 Partial (south)	−1.22325		155	2000 July 31 Partial (north)	1.21664

Partial solar eclipses on July 1, 2000 and December 25, 2000 occur in the next lunar year eclipse set.

Saros 140

It is a part of Saros cycle 140, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 71 events. The series started with partial solar eclipse on April 16, 1512. It contains total eclipses from July 21, 1656 through November 9, 1836, hybrid eclipses from November 20, 1854 through December 23, 1908, and annular eclipses from January 3, 1927 through December 7, 2485. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on June 1, 2774. The longest duration of totality was 4 minutes, 10 seconds on August 12, 1692.

Series members 23–53 occur between 1901 and 2450:
23	24	25
Dec 23, 1908	Jan 3, 1927	Jan 14, 1945
26	27	28
Jan 25, 1963	Feb 4, 1981	Feb 16, 1999
29	30	31
Feb 26, 2017	Mar 9, 2035	Mar 20, 2053
32	33	34
Mar 31, 2071	Apr 10, 2089	Apr 23, 2107
35	36	37
May 3, 2125	May 14, 2143	May 25, 2161
38	39	40
Jun 5, 2179	Jun 15, 2197	Jun 28, 2215
41	42	43
Jul 8, 2233	Jul 19, 2251	Jul 29, 2269
44	45	46
Aug 10, 2287	Aug 21, 2305	Sep 1, 2323
47	48	49
Sep 12, 2341	Sep 23, 2359	Oct 3, 2377
50	51	52
Oct 14, 2395	Oct 25, 2413	Nov 5, 2431
53
Nov 15, 2449

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

Notes

References

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