Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991

Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991
Animation of the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991
classification
Type	Total
area	Northeast Pacific , North America , Caribbean , South America , West Atlantic Total: East Pacific , Central America , Mexico , Colombia , Amazonia
Saros cycle	136 (36 of 71)
Gamma value	−0.0043
Greatest eclipse
Duration	6 minutes 53.1 seconds
place	Nayarit (Mexico)
location	22 ° 0 ′  N , 105 ° 13 ′  W Coordinates: 22 ° 0 ′  N , 105 ° 13 ′  W
time	July 11, 1991 7:06:05 PM   UT
size	1.0800

The total solar eclipse of July 11, 1991 , with a total duration of almost 7 minutes, was one of the longest ever and thus longer than its Saros successor, the solar eclipse of July 22, 2009 , which is the longest in the entire 21st century. Yet it was only the third longest in the 20th century; their Saros predecessors on June 30, 1973 and June 20, 1955 were even longer.

All of these solar eclipses belong to Saros 136, which reached its mid-life in the 20th century and was thus at its peak. In addition, the moon was always near perigee at the midpoint of the Saros cycle , and the earth was always near aphelion . The apparent size of the moon was therefore particularly large and that of the sun particularly small. Conclusion: Solar eclipses with a particularly wide central zone and long duration.

Saros 136 began on June 14, 1360 with a small partial solar eclipse in the Southern Ocean . After 8 partial eclipses in the southern hemisphere, there were 6 annular and 6 hybrid eclipses, all in the southern hemisphere of the earth. The eclipses have been total since January 27, 1721 and remain so until May 13, 2496. After the 44 total eclipses, 7 partial solar eclipses in the northern hemisphere will end Saros 136 on July 30, 2622.

The maximum phase was reached in the Mexican state of Nayarit , where the sun was completely covered by the moon for 6 minutes 53 seconds. Numerous amateur astronomers traveled to Mexico especially for this purpose and were able to observe one of the most impressive solar eclipses from there under a cloudless sky.

course

The umbra began about 250 km east of the date line and initially continued over part of the Hawaiian archipelago . At 6:42 p.m. he reached the North American mainland for the first time . Shortly afterwards, at 7:06 p.m., the darkness reached its climax in the Mexican city of Nayarit : the totality there lasted 6 minutes and 53 seconds. The umbra now ran in the direction of South and Central America , in Mexico City the total lasted 6 minutes and 35 seconds. In the rest of the course Colombia and Brazil were crossed, where the path of darkness finally ended.

Web links

• NASA: Total Solar Eclipse of 1991 July 11
• NASA: Solar Eclipses of Saros 136
• NASA: Total Solar Eclipse of 1991 July 11