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Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986

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Solar eclipse of October 3, 1986
Map
Type of eclipse
NatureHybrid
Gamma0.9931
Magnitude1
Maximum eclipse
Duration0 s (0 min 0 s)
Coordinates59°54′N 37°06′W / 59.9°N 37.1°W / 59.9; -37.1
Max. width of band1 km (0.62 mi)
Times (UTC)
Greatest eclipse19:06:15
References
Saros124 (53 of 73)
Catalog # (SE5000)9479

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Friday, October 3, 1986,[1] with a magnitude of 1. It was a hybrid event, with only a fraction of its path as total, and longer sections at the start and end as an annular eclipse. 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 total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 8.3 days after apogee (on September 25, 1986, at 11:00 UTC) and 3.7 days before perigee (on October 7, 1986, at 10:50 UTC).[2]

Totality occurred for a very short time (calculated at 0.08 seconds) in an area in the Atlantic Ocean, just east of the southern tip of Greenland. The path, on the surface of the Earth, was a narrow, tapered, horse-shoe, and visible only from a thin strip between Iceland and Greenland. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, northern South America, and Iceland. This eclipse was the last central eclipse of Solar Saros 124 and the only hybrid eclipse of that cycle.

Observations

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The only witnesses of a few seconds of brief totality were the "Gang of Nine" eclipse chasers aboard a plane at an altitude of 40,000 feet.[3]

The eclipse also resulted in litigation involving a Florida fourth grader whose eyes were allegedly damaged when he viewed the partial eclipse on school grounds. A lower court had dismissed the case on the grounds that the school had no duty to supervise the child after school hours. But the Florida Court of Appeals ruled in 1994 that the jury instruction on that question was improper, and remanded the case.[4]

Eclipse details

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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.[5]

October 3, 1986 Solar Eclipse Times
Event Time (UTC)
First Penumbral External Contact 1986 October 03 at 16:58:20.8 UTC
Equatorial Conjunction 1986 October 03 at 18:07:22.2 UTC
Ecliptic Conjunction 1986 October 03 at 18:55:40.6 UTC
First Umbral External Contact 1986 October 03 at 18:55:55.1 UTC
First Central Line 1986 October 03 at 18:56:25.6 UTC
Greatest Duration 1986 October 03 at 18:56:25.6 UTC
First Umbral Internal Contact 1986 October 03 at 18:56:57.6 UTC
Greatest Eclipse 1986 October 03 at 19:06:15.0 UTC
Last Umbral Internal Contact 1986 October 03 at 19:16:11.3 UTC
Last Central Line 1986 October 03 at 19:16:40.7 UTC
Last Umbral External Contact 1986 October 03 at 19:17:08.5 UTC
Last Penumbral External Contact 1986 October 03 at 21:14:27.6 UTC
October 3, 1986 Solar Eclipse Parameters
Parameter Value
Eclipse Magnitude 1.00002
Eclipse Obscuration 1.00004
Gamma 0.99305
Sun Right Ascension 12h37m45.8s
Sun Declination -04°04'06.7"
Sun Semi-Diameter 15'59.2"
Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 08.8"
Moon Right Ascension 12h39m37.6s
Moon Declination -03°13'11.4"
Moon Semi-Diameter 15'58.2"
Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax 0°58'36.8"
ΔT 55.2 s

Eclipse season

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This eclipse is part of an eclipse season, 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.

Eclipse season of October 1986
October 3
Descending node (new moon)
October 17
Ascending node (full moon)
Hybrid solar eclipse
Solar Saros 124
Total lunar eclipse
Lunar Saros 136
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Eclipses in 1986

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Metonic

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Tzolkinex

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Half-Saros

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Tritos

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Solar Saros 124

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Inex

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Triad

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Solar eclipses of 1986–1989

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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.[6]

Solar eclipse series sets from 1986 to 1989
Ascending node   Descending node
Saros Map Gamma Saros Map Gamma
119 April 9, 1986

Partial
−1.0822 124 October 3, 1986

Hybrid
0.9931
129 March 29, 1987

Hybrid
−0.3053 134 September 23, 1987

Annular
0.2787
139 March 18, 1988

Total
0.4188 144 September 11, 1988

Annular
−0.4681
149 March 7, 1989

Partial
1.0981 154 August 31, 1989

Partial
−1.1928

Saros 124

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This eclipse is a part of Saros series 124, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 73 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on March 6, 1049. It contains total eclipses from June 12, 1211 through September 22, 1968, and a hybrid eclipse on October 3, 1986. There are no annular eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 73 as a partial eclipse on May 11, 2347. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is one exeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.

The longest duration of totality was produced by member 39 at 5 minutes, 46 seconds on May 3, 1734. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.[7]

Series members 43–64 occur between 1801 and 2200:
43 44 45

June 16, 1806

June 26, 1824

July 8, 1842
46 47 48

July 18, 1860

July 29, 1878

August 9, 1896
49 50 51

August 21, 1914

August 31, 1932

September 12, 1950
52 53 54

September 22, 1968

October 3, 1986

October 14, 2004
55 56 57

October 25, 2022

November 4, 2040

November 16, 2058
58 59 60

November 26, 2076

December 7, 2094

December 19, 2112
61 62 63

December 30, 2130

January 9, 2149

January 21, 2167
64

January 31, 2185

Metonic series

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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 between July 22, 1971 and July 22, 2047
July 22 May 9–11 February 26–27 December 14–15 October 2–3
116 118 120 122 124

July 22, 1971

May 11, 1975

February 26, 1979

December 15, 1982

October 3, 1986
126 128 130 132 134

July 22, 1990

May 10, 1994

February 26, 1998

December 14, 2001

October 3, 2005
136 138 140 142 144

July 22, 2009

May 10, 2013

February 26, 2017

December 14, 2020

October 2, 2024
146 148 150 152 154

July 22, 2028

May 9, 2032

February 27, 2036

December 15, 2039

October 3, 2043
156

July 22, 2047

Tritos series

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This eclipse is a part of a tritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135 synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee), but groupings of 3 tritos cycles (≈ 33 years minus 3 months) come close (≈ 434.044 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200

March 14, 1801
(Saros 107)

February 12, 1812
(Saros 108)

January 12, 1823
(Saros 109)

November 10, 1844
(Saros 111)

August 9, 1877
(Saros 114)

July 9, 1888
(Saros 115)

June 8, 1899
(Saros 116)

May 9, 1910
(Saros 117)

April 8, 1921
(Saros 118)

March 7, 1932
(Saros 119)

February 4, 1943
(Saros 120)

January 5, 1954
(Saros 121)

December 4, 1964
(Saros 122)

November 3, 1975
(Saros 123)

October 3, 1986
(Saros 124)

September 2, 1997
(Saros 125)

August 1, 2008
(Saros 126)

July 2, 2019
(Saros 127)

June 1, 2030
(Saros 128)

April 30, 2041
(Saros 129)

March 30, 2052
(Saros 130)

February 28, 2063
(Saros 131)

January 27, 2074
(Saros 132)

December 27, 2084
(Saros 133)

November 27, 2095
(Saros 134)

October 26, 2106
(Saros 135)

September 26, 2117
(Saros 136)

August 25, 2128
(Saros 137)

July 25, 2139
(Saros 138)

June 25, 2150
(Saros 139)

May 25, 2161
(Saros 140)

April 23, 2172
(Saros 141)

March 23, 2183
(Saros 142)

February 21, 2194
(Saros 143)

Inex series

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This eclipse is a part of the long period inex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358 synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with the anomalistic month (period of perigee). However, groupings of 3 inex cycles (≈ 87 years minus 2 months) comes close (≈ 1,151.02 anomalistic months), so eclipses are similar in these groupings.

Series members between 1801 and 2200

February 1, 1813
(Saros 118)

January 11, 1842
(Saros 119)

December 22, 1870
(Saros 120)

December 3, 1899
(Saros 121)

November 12, 1928
(Saros 122)

October 23, 1957
(Saros 123)

October 3, 1986
(Saros 124)

September 13, 2015
(Saros 125)

August 23, 2044
(Saros 126)

August 3, 2073
(Saros 127)

July 15, 2102
(Saros 128)

June 25, 2131
(Saros 129)

June 4, 2160
(Saros 130)

May 15, 2189
(Saros 131)

References

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  1. ^ "October 3, 1986 Total Solar Eclipse". timeanddate. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Moon Distances for London, United Kingdom, England". timeanddate. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ^ Schneider, Glenn. "03 October 1986: A Geometrically Remarkable Eclipse".
  4. ^ Florida Court Reinstates Lawsuit Alleging Eye Damage from Eclipse https://myeclipseglasses.com/litigation.html retrieved 2 Mar. 2023.
  5. ^ "Hybrid Solar Eclipse of 1986 Oct 03". EclipseWise.com. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  6. ^ van Gent, R.H. "Solar- and Lunar-Eclipse Predictions from Antiquity to the Present". A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles. Utrecht University. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  7. ^ "NASA - Catalog of Solar Eclipses of Saros 124". eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.
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