| Partial eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | −1.058 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 0.8799 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Coordinates | 71°18′S104°00′W / 71.3°S 104°W /-71.3; -104 |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 22:38:12 |
| References | |
| Saros | 148 (20 of 75) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9499 |
A partialsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sdescending node of orbit between Wednesday, April 17 and Thursday, April 18, 1996,[1] with amagnitude of 0.8799. Asolar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes between theEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A partial solar eclipse occurs in the polar regions of the Earth when the center of the Moon's shadow misses the Earth.
A partial eclipse was visible in parts ofAntarctica,New Zealand, and easternOceania.
| Country or territory | City or place | Start of partial eclipse | Maximum eclipse | End of partial eclipse | Duration of eclipse (hr:min) | Maximum coverage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | Macquarie Island[a] | 06:31:39 | 07:21:44 | 08:14:48 | 1:43 | 20.58% | |||
 New Zealand | Queenstown[a] | 08:41:01 | 09:22:20 | 10:06:01 | 1:25 | 7.99% | |||
| New Zealand | Oban[a] | 08:37:48 | 09:22:47 | 10:10:30 | 1:33 | 10.99% | |||
| New Zealand | Greymouth[a] | 08:46:39 | 09:24:03 | 10:03:26 | 1:17 | 5.28% | |||
| New Zealand | Dunedin[a] | 08:39:16 | 09:24:38 | 10:12:45 | 1:33 | 10.62% | |||
| New Zealand | Christchurch[a] | 08:43:36 | 09:26:03 | 10:10:59 | 1:27 | 7.87% | |||
| New Zealand | Nelson[a] | 08:49:28 | 09:26:13 | 10:04:53 | 1:15 | 4.69% | |||
| New Zealand | New Plymouth[a] | 08:57:36 | 09:26:54 | 09:57:25 | 1:00 | 2.16% | |||
| New Zealand | Blenheim[a] | 08:48:30 | 09:27:07 | 10:07:49 | 1:19 | 5.44% | |||
| New Zealand | Auckland[a] | 09:11:13 | 09:27:45 | 09:44:40 | 0:33 | 0.35% | |||
| New Zealand | Wellington[a] | 08:48:55 | 09:28:07 | 10:09:28 | 1:21 | 5.60% | |||
| New Zealand | Whanganui[a] | 08:53:17 | 09:28:17 | 10:05:01 | 1:12 | 3.78% | |||
| New Zealand | Hamilton[a] | 09:03:06 | 09:28:29 | 09:54:47 | 0:52 | 1.32% | |||
| New Zealand | Te Awamutu[a] | 09:01:45 | 09:28:33 | 09:56:22 | 0:55 | 1.56% | |||
| New Zealand | Palmerston North[a] | 08:51:33 | 09:29:06 | 10:08:35 | 1:17 | 4.70% | |||
| New Zealand | Whitianga[a] | 09:09:01 | 09:29:06 | 09:49:46 | 0:41 | 0.62% | |||
| New Zealand | Taupō[a] | 08:57:41 | 09:29:37 | 10:02:59 | 1:05 | 2.70% | |||
| New Zealand | Tauranga[a] | 09:02:36 | 09:29:45 | 09:57:57 | 0:55 | 1.59% | |||
| New Zealand | Rotorua[a] | 09:00:07 | 09:29:52 | 10:00:52 | 1:01 | 2.13% | |||
| New Zealand | Napier[a] | 08:53:59 | 09:30:51 | 10:09:33 | 1:16 | 4.24% | |||
| New Zealand | Whakatāne[a] | 09:00:21 | 09:30:57 | 10:02:51 | 1:03 | 2.28% | |||
| New Zealand | Gisborne[a] | 08:56:33 | 09:32:27 | 10:10:05 | 1:14 | 3.75% | |||
| New Zealand | Chatham Islands[a] | 09:28:42 | 10:25:27 | 11:25:40 | 1:57 | 17.03% | |||
 Antarctica | Zucchelli Station[a] | 09:42:47 (sunrise) | 09:53:45 | 10:52:06 | 1:09 | 59.07% | |||
| Antarctica | Dumont d'Urville Station[a] | 08:15:11 (sunrise) | 08:20:47 | 08:26:22 | 0:11 | 2.24% | |||
| Antarctica | McMurdo Station[a] | 10:32:12 (sunrise) | 10:44:16 | 10:56:45 | 0:25 | 8.62% | |||
 French Polynesia | Papeete | 12:52:40 | 13:01:45 | 13:10:46 | 0:18 | 0.03% | |||
| French Polynesia | Gambier Islands | 13:19:55 | 14:23:13 | 15:21:25 | 2:02 | 14.33% | |||
 Pitcairn Islands | Adamstown | 13:51:21 | 14:58:37 | 15:59:37 | 2:08 | 19.84% | |||
 Chile | Easter Island | 16:50:04 | 17:49:32 | 18:43:05 | 1:53 | 24.30% | |||
| References:[1] | |||||||||
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 attained the specific parameter, and the second table describes various other parameters pertaining to this eclipse.[2]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First penumbral external contact | 1996 April 17 at 20:32:24.8 UTC |
| Equatorial conjunction | 1996 April 17 at 22:06:05.6 UTC |
| Greatest eclipse | 1996 April 17 at 22:38:12.1 UTC |
| Ecliptic conjunction | 1996 April 17 at 22:49:47.9 UTC |
| Last penumbral external contact | 1996 April 18 at 00:44:20.0 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse magnitude | 0.87994 |
| Eclipse obscuration | 0.84058 |
| Gamma | −1.05796 |
| Sun right ascension | 01h44m43.7s |
| Sun declination | +10°49'43.1" |
| Sun semi-diameter | 15'55.6" |
| Sun equatorial horizontal parallax | 08.8" |
| Moon right ascension | 01h45m48.3s |
| Moon declination | +09°51'28.1" |
| Moon semi-diameter | 15'35.4" |
| Moon equatorial horizontal parallax | 0°57'13.0" |
| ΔT | 61.8 s |
This eclipse is part of aneclipse 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 afortnight.
| April 4 Ascending node (full moon) | April 17 Descending node (new moon) |
|---|---|
 | |
| Total lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 122 | Partial solar eclipse Solar Saros 148 |
This eclipse is a member of asemester series. An eclipse in a semester series of solar eclipses repeats approximately every 177 days and 4 hours (a semester) at alternatingnodes of the Moon's orbit.[3]
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1993 to 1996 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 118 | May 21, 1993 Partial | 1.1372 | 123 | November 13, 1993 Partial | −1.0411 | |
128.jpg) Partial inBismarck, ND, USA | May 10, 1994 Annular | 0.4077 | 133.jpg) Totality inBolivia | November 3, 1994 Total | −0.3522 | |
| 138 | April 29, 1995 Annular | −0.3382 | 143 Totality inDundlod,India | October 24, 1995 Total | 0.3518 | |
| 148 | April 17, 1996 Partial | −1.058 | 153 | October 12, 1996 Partial | 1.1227 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 148, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 75 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on September 21, 1653. It contains annular eclipses onApril 29, 2014 andMay 9, 2032; a hybrid eclipse onMay 20, 2050; and total eclipses fromMay 31, 2068 through August 3, 2771. The series ends at member 75 as a partial eclipse on December 12, 2987. Its eclipses are tabulated in three columns; every third eclipse in the same column is oneexeligmos apart, so they all cast shadows over approximately the same parts of the Earth.
The longest duration of annularity will be produced by member 22 at 22 seconds (by default) onMay 9, 2032, and the longest duration of totality will be produced by member 54 at 5 minutes, 23 seconds on April 26, 2609. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[4]
| Series members 10–31 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 11 | 12 |
 December 30, 1815 |  January 9, 1834 |  January 21, 1852 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 |
 January 31, 1870 |  February 11, 1888 |  February 23, 1906 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 |
 March 5, 1924 |  March 16, 1942 |  March 27, 1960 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 |
 April 7, 1978 | April 17, 1996 |  April 29, 2014 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 |
 May 9, 2032 |  May 20, 2050 |  May 31, 2068 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 |
 June 11, 2086 |  June 22, 2104 |  July 4, 2122 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 |
 July 14, 2140 |  July 25, 2158 |  August 4, 2176 |
| 31 | ||
 August 16, 2194 | ||
Themetonic 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.
| 22 eclipse events between September 12, 1931 and July 1, 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 11–12 | June 30–July 1 | April 17–19 | February 4–5 | November 22–23 |
| 114 | 116 | 118 | 120 | 122 |
 September 12, 1931 |  June 30, 1935 |  April 19, 1939 |  February 4, 1943 |  November 23, 1946 |
| 124 | 126 | 128 | 130 | 132 |
 September 12, 1950 |  June 30, 1954 |  April 19, 1958 |  February 5, 1962 |  November 23, 1965 |
| 134 | 136 | 138 | 140 | 142 |
 September 11, 1969 |  June 30, 1973 |  April 18, 1977 |  February 4, 1981 |  November 22, 1984 |
| 144 | 146 | 148 | 150 | 152 |
 September 11, 1988 |  June 30, 1992 | April 17, 1996 |  February 5, 2000 |  November 23, 2003 |
| 154 | 156 | |||
 September 11, 2007 |  July 1, 2011 | |||
This eclipse is a part of atritos cycle, repeating at alternating nodes every 135synodic months (≈ 3986.63 days, or 11 years minus 1 month). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic 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.
The partial solar eclipses on December 7, 2170 (part of Saros 164) and November 7, 2181 (part of Saros 165) are also a part of this series but are not included in the table below.
| Series members between 1801 and 2105 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 September 28, 1810 (Saros 131) |  August 27, 1821 (Saros 132) |  July 27, 1832 (Saros 133) |  June 27, 1843 (Saros 134) |  May 26, 1854 (Saros 135) |
 April 25, 1865 (Saros 136) |  March 25, 1876 (Saros 137) |  February 22, 1887 (Saros 138) |  January 22, 1898 (Saros 139) |  December 23, 1908 (Saros 140) |
 November 22, 1919 (Saros 141) |  October 21, 1930 (Saros 142) |  September 21, 1941 (Saros 143) |  August 20, 1952 (Saros 144) |  July 20, 1963 (Saros 145) |
 June 20, 1974 (Saros 146) |  May 19, 1985 (Saros 147) | April 17, 1996 (Saros 148) |  March 19, 2007 (Saros 149) |  February 15, 2018 (Saros 150) |
 January 14, 2029 (Saros 151) |  December 15, 2039 (Saros 152) |  November 14, 2050 (Saros 153) |  October 13, 2061 (Saros 154) |  September 12, 2072 (Saros 155) |
 August 13, 2083 (Saros 156) |  July 12, 2094 (Saros 157) |  June 12, 2105 (Saros 158) | ||
This eclipse is a part of the long periodinex cycle, repeating at alternating nodes, every 358synodic months (≈ 10,571.95 days, or 29 years minus 20 days). Their appearance and longitude are irregular due to a lack of synchronization with theanomalistic 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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 August 16, 1822 (Saros 142) |  July 28, 1851 (Saros 143) |  July 7, 1880 (Saros 144) |
 June 17, 1909 (Saros 145) |  May 29, 1938 (Saros 146) |  May 9, 1967 (Saros 147) |
April 17, 1996 (Saros 148) |  March 29, 2025 (Saros 149) |  March 9, 2054 (Saros 150) |
 February 16, 2083 (Saros 151) |  January 29, 2112 (Saros 152) |  January 8, 2141 (Saros 153) |
 December 18, 2169 (Saros 154) |  November 28, 2198 (Saros 155) | |
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