A partial

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

occurred at the Moon's

descending node An orbital node is either of the two points where an orbit intersects a plane of reference to which it is inclined. A non-inclined orbit, which is contained in the reference plane, has no nodes. Planes of reference Common planes of referenc ...

of orbit between Wednesday, April 17 and Thursday, April 18, 1996, with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 0.8799. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

and the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, 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. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and eastern

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

Images

Eclipse details

Shown below are two tables displaying details about this particular solar eclipse. The first table outlines times at which the moon's penumbra or umbra attains the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.

Eclipse season

This eclipse is part of an

eclipse season An eclipse season is a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Eclipse seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of the Orbit of the Moon, Moon's orbital plane (orbital inclination, tilted five degrees to the ecliptic, Earth ...

, a period, roughly every six months, when eclipses occur. Only two (or occasionally three) eclipse seasons occur each year, and each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months (173 days) later; thus two full eclipse seasons always occur each year. Either two or three eclipses happen each eclipse season. In the sequence below, each eclipse is separated by a

fortnight A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1996

* A total lunar eclipse on April 4. * A partial solar eclipse on April 17. * A total lunar eclipse on September 27. * A partial solar eclipse on October 12.

Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 30, 1992 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 2000

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1989 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of May 31, 2003 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Saturday, May 31, 2003, with a magnitude of 0.9384. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of April 14, 1987 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of April 24, 2005

Tritos

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of May 19, 1985 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Sunday, May 19 and Monday, May 20, 1985, with a magnitude of 0.8406. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly ob ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 19, 2007

Solar Saros 148

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 7, 1978 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of April 29, 2014 An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Tuesday, April 29, 2014, with a magnitude of 0.9868. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

Inex

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of May 9, 1967 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's Lunar node, ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, May 9, 1967, with a Magnitude of eclipse, magnitude of 0.7201. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or ...

* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 2025

Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 17, 1909 * Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 2083

Solar eclipses of 1993–1996

Saros 148

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

External links

NASA graphics
{{Solar eclipses 1996 4 17 1996 in science 1996 4 17 April 1996