| Total eclipse | |
 Map | |
| Gamma | 0.6872 |
|---|---|
| Magnitude | 1.0379 |
| Maximum eclipse | |
| Duration | 156 s (2 min 36 s) |
| Coordinates | 63°30′N94°12′W / 63.5°N 94.2°W /63.5; -94.2 |
| Max. width of band | 175 km (109 mi) |
| Times (UTC) | |
| Greatest eclipse | 19:46:38 |
| References | |
| Saros | 126 (45 of 72) |
| Catalog # (SE5000) | 9448 |
A totalsolar eclipse occurred at the Moon'sdescending node of orbit between Monday, July 10 and Tuesday, July 11, 1972,[1] with amagnitude of 1.0379. Asolar eclipse occurs when theMoon passes betweenEarth and theSun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon'sapparent 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 about 2.8 days afterperigee (on July 7, 1972, at 23:50 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.[2]
It was visible as a total eclipse along a path of totality that began inSea of Okhotsk and traversed the far eastern portions of theSoviet Union (which now belongs toRussia) on July 11 local time, northernAlaska in theUnited States,Northern Canada,eastern Quebec and theCanadianMaritimes on July 10 local time. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of the northernSoviet Union,North America, theCaribbean, northernSouth America, andNorthern Europe.
The eclipse was mostly seen on July 10, 1972, except for theAsian part of Soviet Union and Japanese islandHokkaido, where either a partial or a total eclipse was seen on July 11 local time, and part of the Soviet Union along the coast ofKara Sea, where a partial eclipse started on July 10, passing midnight and ended on July 11 due to themidnight sun.
A team of theAcademy of Sciences of the Soviet Union observed the total solar eclipse inRusskaya Koshka,Magadan Oblast (now separated intoChukotka Autonomous Okrug) on the coast ofGulf of Anadyr. The weather condition was clear, and the team successfully took images of thecorona and madepolarization observations to study its structure and physical characteristics.[3] InNova Scotia, Canada, the eclipse was clouded out and could not be observed. Besides that, 850 passengers boarded a cruise ship fromNew York City and saw a total eclipse successfully in NorthAtlantic Ocean. Many scientists also boarded the ship and did research, and some also gave classes in meteorology, oceanography, etc., which almost all passengers attended.[4][5]
The eclipse is referenced in the lyrics ofCarly Simon's 1972 hit song "You're So Vain."[6] The subject of the song, after witnessing his racehorse win "naturally" at theSaratoga Race Course, flies hisLearjet toNova Scotia to see the eclipse; Simon uses the two phenomena as examples of how the subject seems to be "where (he) should be all the time." Simon released the song four months after the eclipse.[7]
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.[8]
| Event | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| First Penumbral External Contact | 1972 July 10 at 17:19:47.5 UTC |
| First Umbral External Contact | 1972 July 10 at 18:28:23.8 UTC |
| First Central Line | 1972 July 10 at 18:29:24.0 UTC |
| First Umbral Internal Contact | 1972 July 10 at 18:30:24.5 UTC |
| Equatorial Conjunction | 1972 July 10 at 19:29:05.3 UTC |
| Ecliptic Conjunction | 1972 July 10 at 19:39:28.3 UTC |
| Greatest Duration | 1972 July 10 at 19:43:47.8 UTC |
| Greatest Eclipse | 1972 July 10 at 19:46:38.1 UTC |
| Last Umbral Internal Contact | 1972 July 10 at 21:03:06.0 UTC |
| Last Central Line | 1972 July 10 at 21:04:04.1 UTC |
| Last Umbral External Contact | 1972 July 10 at 21:05:01.8 UTC |
| Last Penumbral External Contact | 1972 July 10 at 22:13:41.2 UTC |
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Eclipse Magnitude | 1.03790 |
| Eclipse Obscuration | 1.07723 |
| Gamma | 0.68719 |
| Sun Right Ascension | 07h20m39.3s |
| Sun Declination | +22°08'59.1" |
| Sun Semi-Diameter | 15'43.9" |
| Sun Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 08.6" |
| Moon Right Ascension | 07h21m20.3s |
| Moon Declination | +22°48'27.6" |
| Moon Semi-Diameter | 16'08.2" |
| Moon Equatorial Horizontal Parallax | 0°59'13.3" |
| ΔT | 42.8 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.
| July 10 Descending node (new moon) | July 26 Ascending node (full moon) |
|---|---|
|  |
| Total solar eclipse Solar Saros 126 | Partial lunar eclipse Lunar Saros 138 |
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.[9]
The partial solar eclipses onFebruary 25, 1971 andAugust 20, 1971 occur in the previous lunar year eclipse set.
| Solar eclipse series sets from 1971 to 1974 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descending node | Ascending node | |||||
| Saros | Map | Gamma | Saros | Map | Gamma | |
| 116 | July 22, 1971 Partial | 1.513 | 121 | January 16, 1972 Annular | −0.9365 | |
| 126 | July 10, 1972 Total | 0.6872 | 131 | January 4, 1973 Annular | −0.2644 | |
| 136 | June 30, 1973 Total | −0.0785 | 141 | December 24, 1973 Annular | 0.4171 | |
| 146 | June 20, 1974 Total | −0.8239 | 151 | December 13, 1974 Partial | 1.0797 | |
This eclipse is a part ofSaros series 126, repeating every 18 years, 11 days, and containing 72 events. The series started with a partial solar eclipse on March 10, 1179. It contains annular eclipses from June 4, 1323 through April 4, 1810; hybrid eclipses from April 14, 1828 through May 6, 1864; and total eclipses fromMay 17, 1882 throughAugust 23, 2044. The series ends at member 72 as a partial eclipse on May 3, 2459. 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 was produced by member 11 at 6 minutes, 30 seconds on June 26, 1359, and the longest duration of totality was produced by member 45 at 2 minutes, 36 seconds onJuly 10, 1972. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’sdescending node of orbit.[10]
| Series members 36–57 occur between 1801 and 2200: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 36 | 37 | 38 |
 April 4, 1810 |  April 14, 1828 |  April 25, 1846 |
| 39 | 40 | 41 |
 May 6, 1864 |  May 17, 1882 |  May 28, 1900 |
| 42 | 43 | 44 |
 June 8, 1918 |  June 19, 1936 |  June 30, 1954 |
| 45 | 46 | 47 |
July 10, 1972 |  July 22, 1990 |  August 1, 2008 |
| 48 | 49 | 50 |
 August 12, 2026 |  August 23, 2044 |  September 3, 2062 |
| 51 | 52 | 53 |
 September 13, 2080 |  September 25, 2098 |  October 6, 2116 |
| 54 | 55 | 56 |
 October 17, 2134 |  October 28, 2152 |  November 8, 2170 |
| 57 | ||
 November 18, 2188 | ||
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.
| 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 | ||||
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.
| Series members between 1801 and 2200 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 October 19, 1808 (Saros 111) |  September 19, 1819 (Saros 112) |  August 18, 1830 (Saros 113) |  July 18, 1841 (Saros 114) |  June 17, 1852 (Saros 115) |
 May 17, 1863 (Saros 116) |  April 16, 1874 (Saros 117) |  March 16, 1885 (Saros 118) |  February 13, 1896 (Saros 119) |  January 14, 1907 (Saros 120) |
 December 14, 1917 (Saros 121) |  November 12, 1928 (Saros 122) |  October 12, 1939 (Saros 123) |  September 12, 1950 (Saros 124) |  August 11, 1961 (Saros 125) |
July 10, 1972 (Saros 126) |  June 11, 1983 (Saros 127) |  May 10, 1994 (Saros 128) |  April 8, 2005 (Saros 129) |  March 9, 2016 (Saros 130) |
 February 6, 2027 (Saros 131) |  January 5, 2038 (Saros 132) |  December 5, 2048 (Saros 133) |  November 5, 2059 (Saros 134) |  October 4, 2070 (Saros 135) |
 September 3, 2081 (Saros 136) |  August 3, 2092 (Saros 137) |  July 4, 2103 (Saros 138) |  June 3, 2114 (Saros 139) |  May 3, 2125 (Saros 140) |
 April 1, 2136 (Saros 141) |  March 2, 2147 (Saros 142) |  January 30, 2158 (Saros 143) |  December 29, 2168 (Saros 144) |  November 28, 2179 (Saros 145) |
 October 29, 2190 (Saros 146) | ||||
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 | ||
|---|---|---|
 October 20, 1827 (Saros 121) |  September 29, 1856 (Saros 122) |  September 8, 1885 (Saros 123) |
 August 21, 1914 (Saros 124) |  August 1, 1943 (Saros 125) | July 10, 1972 (Saros 126) |
 June 21, 2001 (Saros 127) |  June 1, 2030 (Saros 128) |  May 11, 2059 (Saros 129) |
 April 21, 2088 (Saros 130) |  April 2, 2117 (Saros 131) |  March 12, 2146 (Saros 132) |
 February 21, 2175 (Saros 133) | ||
Glenn A. Walsh, who was Astronomical Observatory Coordinator and a Planetarium Lecturer for Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium, told us: ... In fact, one day in mid-June of 1972, a colleague and I were in the radio station when the record was played. When that particular lyric was heard, he turned to me and said, 'that would be nice.' I knew he meant that it would be nice to fly to Nova Scotia and see the eclipse the next month.
.jpg)
