# Solar eclipse of March 18, 1969

An annular solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node of orbit on Tuesday, March 18, 1969, with a magnitude of 0.9954. 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. The Moon's apparent diameter was near the average diameter because it occurred 5.1 days after perigee (on March 13, 1969, at 2:50 UTC) and 7.7 days before apogee (on March 25, 1969, at 19:30 UTC).
Annularity was visible from part of Indonesia, and two atolls (Faraulep and Gaferut) in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands which belongs to the Federated States of Micronesia now. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the Malagasy Republic (today's Madagascar), Antarctica, Australia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and northern Oceania.

## 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, 1969 Solar Eclipse Times :
| Event | Time (UTC) |
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1969 March 18 at 02:07:06.0 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1969 March 18 at 03:08:38.9 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1969 March 18 at 03:09:16.7 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1969 March 18 at 03:09:16.7 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 03:09:54.5 UTC |
| First Penumbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 04:16:02.5 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1969 March 18 at 04:38:24.3 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1969 March 18 at 04:51:59.7 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1969 March 18 at 04:54:57.2 UTC |
| Last Penumbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 05:34:13.5 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1969 March 18 at 06:40:08.1 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1969 March 18 at 06:40:48.6 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1969 March 18 at 06:41:29.2 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1969 March 18 at 07:43:01.1 UTC |
March 18, 1969 Solar Eclipse Parameters :
| Parameter | Value |
| Eclipse Magnitude | 0.99545 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 0.99092 |
| Gamma | −0.27037 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 23h50m32.4s |
| Sun Declination | -01°01'31.8" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 16'04.0" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.8" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 23h51m02.7s |
| Moon Declination | -01°15'08.8" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 15'44.8" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°57'47.6" |
| ΔT | 39.4 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–April 1969 :
| March 18 Ascending node (new moon) | April 2 Descending node (full moon) |
| Annular solar eclipse Solar Saros 129 | Penumbral lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 141 |

## Related eclipses
### Eclipses in 1969

* An annular solar eclipse on March 18.
* A penumbral lunar eclipse on April 2.
* A penumbral lunar eclipse on August 27.
* An annular solar eclipse on September 11.
* A penumbral lunar eclipse on September 25.

### Metonic

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 30, 1965
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 4, 1973

### Tzolkinex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of February 5, 1962
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of April 29, 1976

### Half-Saros

* Preceded by: Lunar eclipse of March 13, 1960
* Followed by: Lunar eclipse of March 24, 1978

### Tritos

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 19, 1958
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 16, 1980

### Solar Saros 129

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of March 7, 1951
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of March 29, 1987

### Inex

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of April 7, 1940
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of February 26, 1998

### Triad

* Preceded by: Solar eclipse of May 17, 1882
* Followed by: Solar eclipse of January 16, 2056

### Solar eclipses of 1968–1971

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 eclipse on July 22, 1971 occurs in the next lunar year eclipse set.
Solar eclipse series sets from 1968 to 1971 :
| Ascending node | Ascending node | Ascending node | Descending node | Descending node | Descending node |
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma |
| 119 | March 28, 1968 Partial | −1.037 | 124 | September 22, 1968 Total | 0.9451 |
| 129 | March 18, 1969 Annular | −0.2704 | 134 | September 11, 1969 Annular | 0.2201 |
| 139 Totality in Williamston, NC USA | March 7, 1970 Total | 0.4473 | 144 | August 31, 1970 Annular | −0.5364 |
| 149 | February 25, 1971 Partial | 1.1188 | 154 | August 20, 1971 Partial | −1.2659 |

### Saros 129

This eclipse is a part of Saros series 129, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 80 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on October 3, 1103. It contains annular eclipses from May 6, 1464 through March 18, 1969; hybrid eclipses from March 29, 1987 through April 20, 2023; and total eclipses from April 30, 2041 through July 26, 2185. The series ends at member 80 as a partial eclipse on February 21, 2528. 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 34 at 5 minutes, 10 seconds on October 4, 1698, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 58 at 3 minutes, 43 seconds on June 25, 2131. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit.
Series members 40–61 occur between 1801 and 2200: :
| 40 | 41 | 42 |
| December 10, 1806 | December 20, 1824 | December 31, 1842 |
| 43 | 44 | 45 |
| January 11, 1861 | January 22, 1879 | February 1, 1897 |
| 46 | 47 | 48 |
| February 14, 1915 | February 24, 1933 | March 7, 1951 |
| 49 | 50 | 51 |
| March 18, 1969 | March 29, 1987 | April 8, 2005 |
| 52 | 53 | 54 |
| April 20, 2023 | April 30, 2041 | May 11, 2059 |
| 55 | 56 | 57 |
| May 22, 2077 | June 2, 2095 | June 13, 2113 |
| 58 | 59 | 60 |
| June 25, 2131 | July 5, 2149 | July 16, 2167 |
| 61 |
| July 26, 2185 |

### 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 :
| June 26, 1805 (Saros 114) | May 27, 1816 (Saros 115) | April 26, 1827 (Saros 116) | March 25, 1838 (Saros 117) | February 23, 1849 (Saros 118) |
| January 23, 1860 (Saros 119) | December 22, 1870 (Saros 120) | November 21, 1881 (Saros 121) | October 20, 1892 (Saros 122) | September 21, 1903 (Saros 123) |
| August 21, 1914 (Saros 124) | July 20, 1925 (Saros 125) | June 19, 1936 (Saros 126) | May 20, 1947 (Saros 127) | April 19, 1958 (Saros 128) |
| March 18, 1969 (Saros 129) | February 16, 1980 (Saros 130) | January 15, 1991 (Saros 131) | December 14, 2001 (Saros 132) | November 13, 2012 (Saros 133) |
| October 14, 2023 (Saros 134) | September 12, 2034 (Saros 135) | August 12, 2045 (Saros 136) | July 12, 2056 (Saros 137) | June 11, 2067 (Saros 138) |
| May 11, 2078 (Saros 139) | April 10, 2089 (Saros 140) | March 10, 2100 (Saros 141) | February 8, 2111 (Saros 142) | January 8, 2122 (Saros 143) |
| December 7, 2132 (Saros 144) | November 7, 2143 (Saros 145) | October 7, 2154 (Saros 146) | September 5, 2165 (Saros 147) | August 4, 2176 (Saros 148) |
| July 6, 2187 (Saros 149) | June 4, 2198 (Saros 150) |

### 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 :
| June 26, 1824 (Saros 124) | June 6, 1853 (Saros 125) | May 17, 1882 (Saros 126) |
| April 28, 1911 (Saros 127) | April 7, 1940 (Saros 128) | March 18, 1969 (Saros 129) |
| February 26, 1998 (Saros 130) | February 6, 2027 (Saros 131) | January 16, 2056 (Saros 132) |
| December 27, 2084 (Saros 133) | December 8, 2113 (Saros 134) | November 17, 2142 (Saros 135) |
| October 29, 2171 (Saros 136) | October 9, 2200 (Saros 137) | |