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 on Thursday, July 22, 1971, 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 0.0689. 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 the eastern

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and northern

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. This was the 70th and final solar eclipse from

Solar Saros 116 Saros cycle series 116 for solar eclipses occurred at the Moon's descending node, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, containing 70 eclipses, 53 of which were umbral (all annular). The first eclipse was on 23 June 727 and the last eclipse was on 2 ...

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 ...

. The first and last eclipse in this sequence is separated by one

synodic month In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive Syzygy (astronomy), syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona people, S ...

Related eclipses

Eclipses in 1971

* A total lunar eclipse on February 10. * A partial solar eclipse on February 25. * A partial solar eclipse on July 22. * A total lunar eclipse on August 6. * A partial solar eclipse on August 20.

Metonic

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of May 11, 1975 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, May 11, 1975, with a magnitude of 0.8636. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of th ...

Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of June 10, 1964

Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of July 17, 1962 * Followed by: Lunar eclipse of July 27, 1980

Tritos

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of June 21, 1982 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Monday, June 21, 1982, with a magnitude of 0.6168. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of th ...

Solar Saros 116

* Preceded by:

Solar eclipse of July 11, 1953 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Saturday, July 11, 1953, with a magnitude of 0.2015. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of August 12, 1942 * Followed by:

Solar eclipse of July 1, 2000 A partial solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Saturday, July 1, 2000, with a magnitude of 0.4768. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of ...

Triad

* Followed by:

Solar eclipse of May 22, 2058 A partial solar eclipse will occur at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Wednesday, May 22, 2058, with a magnitude of 0.4141. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image o ...

Solar eclipses of 1971–1974

Saros 116

Metonic series

Tritos series

Inex series

References

External links

{{Solar eclipses 1971 in science 1971 7 22 July 1971