# Solar eclipse of December 4, 1983

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's descending node of orbit on Sunday, December 4, 1983, with a magnitude of 0.9666. 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. Occurring about 6.5 days before apogee (on December 11, 1983, at 12:30 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was smaller.
Annularity was visible in Cape Verde, Annobón Island of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the People's Republic of Congo (today's Republic of Congo), Zaire (today's Democratic Republic of Congo), northern Uganda, southern Sudan (today's South Sudan), northwestern Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of northern South America, Southern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

## 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.
December 4, 1983 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1983 December 04 at 09:41:52.5 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1983 December 04 at 10:46:44.4 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1983 December 04 at 10:48:24.1 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1983 December 04 at 10:50:04.1 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1983 December 04 at 12:11:46.8 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1983 December 04 at 12:20:29.0 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1983 December 04 at 12:26:45.1 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1983 December 04 at 12:31:15.1 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1983 December 04 at 12:50:58.3 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1983 December 04 at 12:51:39.2 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1983 December 04 at 14:12:31.0 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1983 December 04 at 14:14:13.9 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1983 December 04 at 14:15:56.6 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1983 December 04 at 15:20:48.9 UTC |
December 4, 1983 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.96656 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.93425 |
| Gamma | 0.40150 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 16h41m03.6s |
| Sun Declination | -22°12'07.8" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'13.7" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.9" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 16h41m26.3s |
| Moon Declination | -21°50'01.7" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'27.6" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°56'44.4" |
| ΔT | 53.7 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 December 1983 :
| December 4 Descending node (new moon) | December 20 Ascending node (full moon) |
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 132 | Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 144 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1983

* A total solar eclipse on June 11.
* A partial lunar eclipse on June 25.
* An annular solar eclipse on December 4.
* A penumbral lunar eclipse on December 20.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of September 23, 1987

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of October 23, 1976
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 15, 1991

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of November 29, 1974
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of December 9, 1992

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 3, 1994

### Solar Saros 132

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of November 23, 1965
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of December 14, 2001

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of December 25, 1954
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of November 13, 2012

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 1, 1897
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of October 4, 2070

### Solar eclipses of 1982–1985

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.
The partial solar eclipses on January 25, 1982 and July 20, 1982 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1982 to 1985 :
| Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 117 | June 21, 1982 Partial | −1.2102 | 122 | December 15, 1982 Partial | 1.1293 |
| 127 | June 11, 1983 Total | −0.4947 | 132 | December 4, 1983 Annular | 0.4015 |
| 137 | May 30, 1984 Annular | 0.2755 | 142 Partial in Gisborne, New Zealand | November 22, 1984 Total | −0.3132 |
| 147 | May 19, 1985 Partial | 1.072 | 152 | November 12, 1985 Total | −0.9795 |

### Saros 132

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 132, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 71 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on August 13, 1208. It contains annular eclipses from March 17, 1569 through March 12, 2146; hybrid eclipses on March 23, 2164 and April 3, 2182; and total eclipses from April 14, 2200 through June 19, 2308. The series ends at member 71 as a partial eclipse on September 25, 2470. 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 25 at 6 minutes, 56 seconds on May 9, 1641, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 61 at 2 minutes, 14 seconds on June 8, 2290. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s descending node of orbit.
Series members 34–56 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 34 | 35 | 36 |
| August 17, 1803 | August 27, 1821 | September 7, 1839 |
| 37 | 38 | 39 |
| September 18, 1857 | September 29, 1875 | October 9, 1893 |
| 40 | 41 | 42 |
| October 22, 1911 | November 1, 1929 | November 12, 1947 |
| 43 | 44 | 45 |
| November 23, 1965 | December 4, 1983 | December 14, 2001 |
| 46 | 47 | 48 |
| December 26, 2019 | January 5, 2038 | January 16, 2056 |
| 49 | 50 | 51 |
| January 27, 2074 | February 7, 2092 | February 18, 2110 |
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
| March 1, 2128 | March 12, 2146 | March 23, 2164 |
| 55 | 56 |
| April 3, 2182 | April 14, 2200 |

### 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 descending node.
21 eclipse events between July 11, 1953 and July 11, 2029 :
| July 10–11 | April 29–30 | February 15–16 | December 4 | September 21–23 |
| 116 | 118 | 120 | 122 | 124 |
| July 11, 1953 | April 30, 1957 | February 15, 1961 | December 4, 1964 | September 22, 1968 |
| 126 | 128 | 130 | 132 | 134 |
| July 10, 1972 | April 29, 1976 | February 16, 1980 | December 4, 1983 | September 23, 1987 |
| 136 | 138 | 140 | 142 | 144 |
| July 11, 1991 | April 29, 1995 | February 16, 1999 | December 4, 2002 | September 22, 2006 |
| 146 | 148 | 150 | 152 | 154 |
| July 11, 2010 | April 29, 2014 | February 15, 2018 | December 4, 2021 | September 21, 2025 |
| 156 |
| July 11, 2029 |

### 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 :
| April 14, 1809 (Saros 116) | March 14, 1820 (Saros 117) | February 12, 1831 (Saros 118) | January 11, 1842 (Saros 119) | December 11, 1852 (Saros 120) |
| November 11, 1863 (Saros 121) | October 10, 1874 (Saros 122) | September 8, 1885 (Saros 123) | August 9, 1896 (Saros 124) | July 10, 1907 (Saros 125) |
| June 8, 1918 (Saros 126) | May 9, 1929 (Saros 127) | April 7, 1940 (Saros 128) | March 7, 1951 (Saros 129) | February 5, 1962 (Saros 130) |
| January 4, 1973 (Saros 131) | December 4, 1983 (Saros 132) | November 3, 1994 (Saros 133) | October 3, 2005 (Saros 134) | September 1, 2016 (Saros 135) |
| August 2, 2027 (Saros 136) | July 2, 2038 (Saros 137) | May 31, 2049 (Saros 138) | April 30, 2060 (Saros 139) | March 31, 2071 (Saros 140) |
| February 27, 2082 (Saros 141) | January 27, 2093 (Saros 142) | December 29, 2103 (Saros 143) | November 27, 2114 (Saros 144) | October 26, 2125 (Saros 145) |
| September 26, 2136 (Saros 146) | August 26, 2147 (Saros 147) | July 25, 2158 (Saros 148) | June 25, 2169 (Saros 149) | May 24, 2180 (Saros 150) |
| April 23, 2191 (Saros 151) |

### 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 :
| April 4, 1810 (Saros 126) | March 15, 1839 (Saros 127) | February 23, 1868 (Saros 128) |
| February 1, 1897 (Saros 129) | January 14, 1926 (Saros 130) | December 25, 1954 (Saros 131) |
| December 4, 1983 (Saros 132) | November 13, 2012 (Saros 133) | October 25, 2041 (Saros 134) |
| October 4, 2070 (Saros 135) | September 14, 2099 (Saros 136) | August 25, 2128 (Saros 137) |
| August 5, 2157 (Saros 138) | July 16, 2186 (Saros 139) | |