An annular

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 the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mo ...

occurred at the Moon's descending node of the orbit on February 4–5, 1981. A

occurs when the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

passes between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

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 The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...

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. This annular solar eclipse was large because the Moon covered 99.4% of the Sun, with a path width of only 25 km (15.534 mi, or 82,080.997 feet). It was visible in Australia, crossing over

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and southern

Stewart Island Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

near sunrise on February 5th (Thursday), and ended at sunset over western

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

on February 4th (Wednesday). Occurring only 4 days before perigee (Perigee on February 8, 1981), the moon's apparent diameter was larger. The moon's apparent diameter was 7 arcseconds smaller than the July 31, 1981 total solar eclipse.

More details about the Annular Solar Eclipse of 1981 Feb 04.

Eclipse Magnitude = 0.99375 (99.375%) Eclipse Obscuration = 0.98754 (98.754%) Greatest Eclipse = 1981 Feb 04 at 22:09:23.5 TD (22:08:32.1 UTC) Ecliptic Conjunction = 1981 Feb 04 at 22:14:36.9 TD (22:13:45.5 UTC) Equatorial Conjunction 1981 Feb 04 at 21:58:30.2 TD (21:57:38.8 UTC) Gamma = -0.48375 (48.511%) Sun's Right Ascension = 21.232 Sun's Declination = -16.03º Sun's Diameter = 1946.4 arcseconds Moon's Right Ascension = 21.239 Moon's Declination = -16.49º Moon's Diameter = 1907.2 arcseconds Moon's Distance = 375948.60 km (233603.63 mi)

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1981

* A penumbral lunar eclipse on Tuesday, 20 January 1981. * An annular solar eclipse on Wednesday, 4 February 1981. * A partial lunar eclipse on Friday, 17 July 1981. * A total solar eclipse on Friday, 31 July 1981.

Solar eclipses of 1979–1982

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.

Tritos series

Metonic series

Notes

References

Annular Solar Eclipse Observed for Solar Radius Determination
Observed from Tasmania, by Fiala, A. D., Herald, D., & Dunham, D. W, ''Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society'', Vol. 13, p. 552
Correcting predictions of solar eclipse contact times for the effects of lunar limb irregularities
Observations from Tasmania by Herald, D. ''Journal of the British Astronomical Association'', vol.93, no.6, p. 241–246 1981 2 4 1981 in science 1981 2 4 February 1981 events {{Solar-eclipse-stub