| Solar eclipse of January 4, 1992 | |
|---|---|
 Map | |
| Type of eclipse | |
| Nature | Annular |
| Gamma | 0.4091 |
| Magnitude | 0.9179 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 701 s (11 min 41 s) |
| Coordinates | 1°00′N 169°42′W / 1°N 169.7°W / 1; -169.7 |
| Max. width of band | 340 km (210 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 23:05:37 |
| References | |
| Saros | 141 (22 of 70) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9490 |
An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Saturday, January 4 and Sunday, January 5, 1992, with a magnitude of 0.9179. 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. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter 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. Annularity was visible in the Federal States of Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, Baker Island, Palmyra Atoll, Kingman Reef, and southwestern California, including the southwestern part of Los Angeles.[1]
The duration of annularity at maximum eclipse (closest to but slightly shorter than the longest duration) was 11 minutes, 40.9 seconds in the Pacific. It will have been the longest annular solar eclipse until January 2, 3062, but the solar eclipse of December 24, 1973 lasted longer.[2]
InSan Diego, the eclipse was described as "thrilling", with one observer saying it "looked like God was putting out a fire in the ocean".[3] At other locations (like northeast Australia and the southern Philippines), it was partially obscured by clouds.[3] Most attempts to view the eclipse from Los Angeles were unsuccessful[4] due to cloud cover (and rain which ruined several campsites set up for eclipse-viewing).[5] An astronomer there said that, while around ten thousand people had gathered there to watch the event, it was "completely socked up" and "as if there was no eclipse at all".[3]
While it was only a partial eclipse in Hawaii, people nonetheless gathered to watch it; a museum reported 3,000 people in attendance during the event, although it was noted that "it was hard to tell who were there for the eclipse and who just kind of stumbled upon it".[6]
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.[7]
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1990 to 1992 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending node | Descending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 121 | January 26, 1990 Annular |
−0.9457 | 126 Partial in Finland |
July 22, 1990 Total |
0.7597 | |
| 131 | January 15, 1991 Annular |
−0.2727 | 136 Totality in Playas del Coco, Costa Rica |
July 11, 1991 Total |
−0.0041 | |
| 141 | January 4, 1992 Annular |
0.4091 | 146 | June 30, 1992 Total |
−0.7512 | |
| 151 | December 24, 1992 Partial |
1.0711 | ||||
This eclipse is a part of Saros series 141, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 70 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 19, 1613. It contains annular eclipses from August 4, 1739 through October 14, 2640. There are no hybrid or total eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 70 as a partial eclipse on June 13, 2857. 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 annularity was produced by member 20 at 12 minutes, 9 seconds on December 14, 1955. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.[8]
| Series members 12–33 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 12 | 13 | 14 |
 September 17, 1811 |
 September 28, 1829 |
 October 9, 1847 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 |
 October 19, 1865 |
 October 30, 1883 |
 November 11, 1901 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 |
 November 22, 1919 |
 December 2, 1937 |
 December 14, 1955 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
 December 24, 1973 |
January 4, 1992 |
 January 15, 2010 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 |
 January 26, 2028 |
 February 5, 2046 |
 February 17, 2064 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 |
 February 27, 2082 |
 March 10, 2100 |
 March 22, 2118 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 |
 April 1, 2136 |
 April 12, 2154 |
 April 23, 2172 |
| 33 | ||
 May 4, 2190 | ||
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 1901 and 2100 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 September 9, 1904 (Saros 133) |
 August 10, 1915 (Saros 134) |
 July 9, 1926 (Saros 135) | |
 June 8, 1937 (Saros 136) |
 May 9, 1948 (Saros 137) |
 April 8, 1959 (Saros 138) | |
 March 7, 1970 (Saros 139) |
 February 4, 1981 (Saros 140) |
January 4, 1992 (Saros 141) | |
 December 4, 2002 (Saros 142) |
 November 3, 2013 (Saros 143) |
 October 2, 2024 (Saros 144) | |
 September 2, 2035 (Saros 145) |
 August 2, 2046 (Saros 146) |
 July 1, 2057 (Saros 147) | |
 May 31, 2068 (Saros 148) |
 May 1, 2079 (Saros 149) |
 March 31, 2090 (Saros 150) | |
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 ascending node.
| 22 eclipse events between January 5, 1935 and August 11, 2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 4–5 | October 23–24 | August 10–12 | May 30–31 | March 18–19 |
| 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119 |
 January 5, 1935 |
 August 12, 1942 |
 May 30, 1946 |
 March 18, 1950 | |
| 121 | 123 | 125 | 127 | 129 |
 January 5, 1954 |
 October 23, 1957 |
 August 11, 1961 |
 May 30, 1965 |
 March 18, 1969 |
| 131 | 133 | 135 | 137 | 139 |
 January 4, 1973 |
 October 23, 1976 |
 August 10, 1980 |
 May 30, 1984 |
 March 18, 1988 |
| 141 | 143 | 145 | 147 | 149 |
January 4, 1992 |
 October 24, 1995 |
 August 11, 1999 |
 May 31, 2003 |
 March 19, 2007 |
| 151 | 153 | 155 | ||
 January 4, 2011 |
 October 23, 2014 |
 August 11, 2018 | ||
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