# Solar eclipse of March 18, 1988

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit between Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18, 1988, with a magnitude of 1.0464. 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. Occurring only 1.1 days after perigee (on March 16, 1988, at 20:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.
Totality was visible in Indonesia and southern Philippines. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Northeast Asia, Australia, and Alaska.

## Observation

The tourism office of the General Santos City government in the Philippines promoted it as a big tourism event. Hordes of scientists, astronomers, journalists, TV crews and tourists from all over the globe observed the totality from there. Then President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino also joined in to experience the event.

## 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.
March 18, 1988 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1988 March 17 at 23:24:58.4 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1988 March 18 at 00:23:32.6 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1988 March 18 at 00:24:27.6 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1988 March 18 at 00:25:22.6 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1988 March 18 at 01:38:59.5 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1988 March 18 at 01:57:26.1 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1988 March 18 at 01:58:56.4 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1988 March 18 at 02:03:15.6 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1988 March 18 at 02:23:10.7 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1988 March 18 at 02:18:20.1 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1988 March 18 at 03:32:16.8 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1988 March 18 at 03:33:10.6 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1988 March 18 at 03:34:04.3 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1988 March 18 at 04:32:47.6 UTC |
March 18, 1988 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.04640 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.09496 |
| Gamma | 0.41879 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 23h51m32.0s |
| Sun Declination | -00°55'03.0" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'04.1" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 23h50m42.6s |
| Moon Declination | -00°32'52.0" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'33.4" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 1°00'45.8" |
| ΔT | 55.9 s |

## Eclipse season

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 March 1988 :
| March 3 Descending node (full moon) | March 18 Ascending node (new moon) |
| Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 113 | Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 139 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1988

* A penumbral lunar eclipse on March 3.
* A total solar eclipse on March 18.
* A partial lunar eclipse on August 27.
* An annular solar eclipse on September 11.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1984
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1992

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 4, 1981
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1995

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1979
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1997

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 18, 1977
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1999

### Solar Saros 139

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1970
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 8, 1959
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 2017

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 18, 1901
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 16, 2075

### Solar eclipses of 1986–1989

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.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1986 to 1989 :
| Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Descending node | Descending 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 139

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 139, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on May 17, 1501. It contains hybrid eclipses from August 11, 1627 through December 9, 1825 and total eclipses from December 21, 1843 through March 26, 2601. There are no annular eclipses in this set. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on July 3, 2763. 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 will be produced by member 61 at 7 minutes, 29.22 seconds on July 16, 2186. This date is the longest solar eclipse computed between 4000 BC and AD 6000. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Series members 18–39 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 18 | 19 | 20 |
| November 29, 1807 | December 9, 1825 | December 21, 1843 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 |
| December 31, 1861 | January 11, 1880 | January 22, 1898 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 |
| February 3, 1916 | February 14, 1934 | February 25, 1952 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 |
| March 7, 1970 | March 18, 1988 | March 29, 2006 |
| 30 | 31 | 32 |
| April 8, 2024 | April 20, 2042 | April 30, 2060 |
| 33 | 34 | 35 |
| May 11, 2078 | May 22, 2096 | June 3, 2114 |
| 36 | 37 | 38 |
| June 13, 2132 | June 25, 2150 | July 5, 2168 |
| 39 |
| July 16, 2186 |

### Metonic series

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 |

### Tritos series

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 :
| August 28, 1802 (Saros 122) | July 27, 1813 (Saros 123) | June 26, 1824 (Saros 124) | May 27, 1835 (Saros 125) | April 25, 1846 (Saros 126) |
| March 25, 1857 (Saros 127) | February 23, 1868 (Saros 128) | January 22, 1879 (Saros 129) | December 22, 1889 (Saros 130) | November 22, 1900 (Saros 131) |
| October 22, 1911 (Saros 132) | September 21, 1922 (Saros 133) | August 21, 1933 (Saros 134) | July 20, 1944 (Saros 135) | June 20, 1955 (Saros 136) |
| May 20, 1966 (Saros 137) | April 18, 1977 (Saros 138) | March 18, 1988 (Saros 139) | February 16, 1999 (Saros 140) | January 15, 2010 (Saros 141) |
| December 14, 2020 (Saros 142) | November 14, 2031 (Saros 143) | October 14, 2042 (Saros 144) | September 12, 2053 (Saros 145) | August 12, 2064 (Saros 146) |
| July 13, 2075 (Saros 147) | June 11, 2086 (Saros 148) | May 11, 2097 (Saros 149) | April 11, 2108 (Saros 150) | March 11, 2119 (Saros 151) |
| February 8, 2130 (Saros 152) | January 8, 2141 (Saros 153) | December 8, 2151 (Saros 154) | November 7, 2162 (Saros 155) | October 7, 2173 (Saros 156) |
| September 4, 2184 (Saros 157) | August 5, 2195 (Saros 158) |

### Inex series

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 :
| July 17, 1814 (Saros 133) | June 27, 1843 (Saros 134) | June 6, 1872 (Saros 135) |
| May 18, 1901 (Saros 136) | April 28, 1930 (Saros 137) | April 8, 1959 (Saros 138) |
| March 18, 1988 (Saros 139) | February 26, 2017 (Saros 140) | February 5, 2046 (Saros 141) |
| January 16, 2075 (Saros 142) | December 29, 2103 (Saros 143) | December 7, 2132 (Saros 144) |
| November 17, 2161 (Saros 145) | October 29, 2190 (Saros 146) | |